Research Interest

Phillip Dale has been working with thin film semiconductors for solar cells since 2004 and heads the Laboratory for Energy Materials, which is part of the universities photovoltaic cluster. A thin film solar cell at its heart consists of two oppositely doped semiconductors, an n-type and a p-type. The power conversion efficiency of light to electricity is normally determined by the quality of the p-type layer. From a practical view point the conversion efficiency should be as high as possible, and the cost of production should be as low as possible. Our group has two focusses. The first focus is to make small photovoltaic devices for micro solar and semi-transparent photovoltaic applications. The second focus is on investigating the properties of new semiconductors for photovoltaic applications. Our research is multi-disciplinary covering the fields of (electro)chemical and liquid phase synthesis, kinetics and thermodynamics of gas – solid reactions, nano fabrication, and device physics.

Biography

Phillip Dale is Associate Professor, Head of the Laboratory for Energy Materials at the University of Luxembourg and Deputy Head of the Physics and Materials Department. He also leads the new Luxembourg Doctoral Training Unit Photovoltaics: Advanced Concepts for high Efficiency (PACE), which has eight international partners. He received his Ph.D from the University of Bristol in 2004 in the field of colloidal chemistry. Between 2004 and 2007 he began his interest in solar energy as a post doc at the University of Bath. He was appointed as the first FNR ATTRACT Fellow in 2008 (the ATTRACT programme is designed for attract outstanding international researchers to Luxembourg who demonstrate potential to become leaders in their field of research). His expertise lies in the synthesis and characterization of thin-film semiconductors for PV devices. He has played a leading role in understanding the properties of the earth-abundant semiconductors such as copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS). He has published 75 papers and 4 book chapters and has 3 patents. He is an international advisor to the UK’s centre for doctoral training in Photovoltaics and is guest editor for the journal Solar Energy.