Seminars
Seminars occur on Wednesdays from 12:00-1:00 PM Pacific in ISB 130 with a hybrid option over Zoom unless otherwise posted. To join the mailing list, please contact Prof. Christopher Smallwood at christopher.smallwood@sjsu.edu with the words "Seminars and Events" included in the subject heading.
This Week
The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again(?) of Organic Photovoltaics
Dr. Daniel Brinkman, San José State University
Wednesday, 9/10/2025, 12:00-1:00pm Pacific
Abstract: One doesn't need to look far to find Solar Panels in California—they're on almost
every roof! The dominant technology for photovoltaic devices (i.e. solar cells) continues
to be crystalline silicon (c-Si). The behavior of these devices is well-understood
and the underlying models for P-N junctions can be found in any book on semiconductor
physics. Despite its continued dominance, c-Si cells are typically large and rigid,
making them poor choices for a variety of use cases (e.g. embedded systems on vehicle
roofs). Organic photovoltaics, which can use a variety of organic materials with specific
desired properties are a promising direction for these types of applications.
Or so we thought in the 2000's. The rise of Organic Light Emitting Displays (OLEDs) demonstrates the efficacy of P-N junctions made from organic materials, but a variety of limitations prevented organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices from following suit. The rise of perovskite photovoltaics and reduced costs associated with competing technologies lead to diminished interest in OPVs in the 2010's. However, discoveries of new materials and processes have lead to substantial improvements in OPV efficiencies over the last five years. Perhaps OPVs will finally have their time in the sun!
In this talk I'll endeavor to give an overview of photovoltaic devices based on P-N junctions. We will focus on the differences between the well-understood c-Si solar cells and the more exotic world of OPV devices. I'll discuss the key challenges in development of OPV devices, including device morphology and exciton dynamics, with a special focus on how we can use partial differential equations to better understand how these challenges impact device performance.
Bio: Dan Brinkman grew up in Naperville, Illinois (the geographic midpoint of Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory). He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2009 with degrees in Physics and Mathematics. After a harrowing weekend spent hunting an intermittent short in a resistance bridge, he decided to pursue his PhD in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, graduating in 2013. He held postdoctoral positions at Arizona State University (in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences and the School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering) before joining the mathematics department at San Jose State University in 2016.
