KY EPSCoR: National Laboratory Initiative I: Travel Funds Request Proposal

Dr. Kai Zhu's research interests include sensitized solar cells, and charge transport and recombination in nanostructured electrode materials. His current research focuses on experimental and theoretical studies aimed at establishing a basic understanding of the principal physical and chemical processes governing the charge-transport dynamics and interfacial charge-transfer kinetics in sensitized, nanostructured solid-state and liquid-junction solar cells. Dr. Zhu is a Physicist and is more interesting in solar cell-related fundamental physics. I am an electrical engineer and more interested in process development and fabrication of high-efficiency and lowcost solar cells. We have complementary backgrounds. He is also very interested in my research. In this visit, I will discuss with him about research on inorganic and organic perovskite solar cells and submission proposals to DOE EPSCOR and other programs. I wish to establish strong collaboration with him, which will strengthen our research quality and capability for securing federal funding. Through collaboration, I will use the following facilities at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). I wish to tour the facilities in this visit. Accelerated Exposure Testing Laboratory (FTLB/158-03): Use temperature- and humiditycontrolled chambers to test for weathering durability, corrosion on mirrors, delamination of polymers under controlled conditions, and other research. NREL's Solar Radiation Research Laboratory (SRRL): Collecting continuous measurements of basic solar radiation components since 1981. Since then, it has expanded its expertise to include integrated metrology, optics, electronics, and data acquisition capabilities. In addition, the SRRL provides facilities for outdoor performance testing of new research instrumentation and energy conversion devices such as photovoltaic modules.