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Department of Physics and Astronomy Collins Research Group

Obaid Alqahtani’s Organic Solar Cell Work Published in Wiley, NANO-MICRO Small

Obaid’s work on structure-property relationships in polymer:non-fullerene (NFA) organic solar cells (OSCs) has been published at Small. This work examines the effectiveness of a solvent additive that is commonly used to optimize ink-printed NFA OSCs. The findings show that performance and morphology of NFA OSCs are extremely sensitive to residuals of additive due to high sensitivity of NFA molecules to over-crystallization. The main takeaway of this study is that extreme precision is required when printing NFA OSCs with solvent additives. Alternatively, additive-free methods might be necessarily for successful large-scale printing of NFA OSCs. This work was conducted in collaboration with colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing.

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Tamanna Graduates with MSE PhD

Graduate student Tamanna Khan has graduated with her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering. Her dissertation is titled “CONTROLLING ION TRANSPORT PATHWAYS IN POLYMER MIXED ION/ELECTRON CONDUCTING DEVICES”
Congratulations Tamanna!

Collins Group Presents at 2022 APS Meeting

Victor and Devin presented at the 2022 APS Meeting in Chicago. Victor presented at session D02: Ultrafast XUV/Soft X-ray Spectroscopy. His talk is entitled “Combining soft X-ray spectroscopy and reflectivity with DFT for optical models of polarized RSoXS to reveal molecular alignment in nanostructures”. Devin presented at session M18: Polymer Structure Formation and Dynamics in Solution. His presentation was entitled “Label-free characterization of aqueous micelle nanostructure and dynamics via in-situ RSoXS”.

Devin Grabner Awarded Master’s Degree

Graduate student Devin Grabner has successfully defended his master’s degree in Physics. His project titled “Label-Free Characterization of aPS50 Nanostructure, Chemistry, and Dynamics via In-Situ Resonant Soft X-Ray Scattering (RSoXS)” revealed the chemical substructure and dynamics of self-assembled polymer nanocarriers being developed for hydrocarbon sequestration and oil spill remediation. This was made possible through his application of a novel nanoprobe technique that is sensitive to unique chemical bonds within the structure. This work was in collaboration with chemist Dr. Phillip Picket while working at the University of Southern Mississippi (now at NIST).

Devin plans to publish this work and will continue his project in the group toward his PhD. Congratulations!

Tamanna Khan presents at 2021 MRS Fall Meeting

Tamanna presented at talk entitled “Gating Dual Channel Ionic Transport in Conducting Polymers via Hydrophobicity” at the Symposium SB08, which focuses on Bioelectronics: Materials and Interfaces. The 2021 MRS Fall meeting took place in person between Nov. 29-Dec. 2, 2021 in Boston, MA.

Obaid Alqahtani’s solar cell work published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

Obaid’s work on structure-property relationships in polymer:fullerene organic solar cells (OSCs) has been published at ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. This work explains the morphological origins of suppressed charge recombination in photovoltaic active layers. The findings show that large well-ordered conduits with sharp interfaces between donor-acceptor domains are important for keeping opposite charges separated and percolation pathways clear. That result in enhanced charge collection even in active layers with film thickness that is suitable for industrial production methods, such as roll-to-roll printing. The work involved a large collaboration with groups across the globe including University of Potsdam (Germany), Swansea University (U.K.), South China University of Technology (China) as well as local collaborations.

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RSoXS of Nanocarriers in Nature Communications picked up by Media

Lead by the WSU Collins Group in collaboration with Berkeley Lab and the McCormick Group at the University of Southern Mississippi, the first RSoXS spatiochemical analysis of aqueous polymer micelles has been published in Nature Communications. The work culminates postdoc and first author Terry McAfee’s project to develop microfluidic RSoXS capabilities. This capability is now possible at two synchrotron facilities: Berkeley Lab’s ALS and Brookhaven Lab’s NSLS-II.

The work has generated interest in the WSU media with pieces in both the WSU Insider and the Daily Evergreen – each of which have produced accurate descriptions of the work for General Audiences. It has been picked up by several other media sites across the internet.

The work has also been highlighted at the Advanced Light Source written for the X-ray science field.

 

McAfee hired as career scientist at the ALS

Postdoc Terry McAfee has been hired as Senior Science and Engineering Associate at the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley National Lab. After working with the WSU Collins Group, Terry has completed his path into a career scientist.

In his new position, Terry will provide complex technical support in synchrotron radiation sciences including the construction, development, and operation of soft, tender, infrared X-ray beamlines and endstations, as well as the design, development, installation, and commissioning of X-ray spectroscopy and scattering equipment. He will also provide user support, and development of new ex situ, in situ, and operando experimental systems aligned with ALS organizational goals.

The primary instrument Terry will oversee are three Ambient Pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy beamlines (9.3.1, 9.3.2, and 11.0.2.1). Congratulations Terry!

NSLS-II’s First Liquid RSoXS Measurement

The Collins Group had the honor of conducting the first microfluidic RSoXS experiments at the new NSLS-II instrument at Brookhaven National Laboratory with beamline scientist and NIST researcher Eliot Gann (pictured top left). The new instrument sets off a new capability of spatiochemical characterization of aqueous nanostructures.

The new RSoXS instrument, funded and built by NIST at the NSLS-II, was designed to enable a microfluidic stage (pictured) to place a ~1um sheet of aqueous sample in front of the X-ray beam (itself in high vacuum). PI Brian Collins and postdoc Terry McAfee (pictured) brought their stage to enable commissioning studies of the new capability.

The insert is constructed by Protochips to be used in transmission electron microscopes. It thus enables true multimodal  (electrons and X-rays on the same sample) nanoscale investigations in-situ. Being a commercial product, it, furthermore, enables any user of the NSLS-II to bring their own insert to conduct such studies.

The first results of this study were published in the instrumentation paper describing the instrument and its capabilities.