Dr Robert Oliver
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Lecturer in Sustainable Materials
Full contact details
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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I am a Lecturer in Sustainable Materials in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield. I am interested in studying materials that have the potential to mitigate the effects of climate change, especially through more efficient solar energy generation. To achieve this goal, my research focuses on understanding the interplay between the photophysics, device physics and materials properties of novel semiconducting materials with an emphasis on metal halide perovskites.
I received a First Class MPhys in Physics from Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 2018. Following this, I was at St Anne's College, Oxford where I conducted my DPhil studies under the supervision of Prof Henry Snaith FRS and Prof Michael Johnston, defending my thesis entitled "Interfaces in Metal Halide Perovskite Photovoltaics" in 2022. I won the prestigious MRS Graduate Student Award in 2022 for the quality of my DPhil work. In 2022, I moved to the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield where his postdoctoral work studying the influence of strong light-matter coupling on the photophysics of organic materials was supervised by Prof Jenny Clark and Prof Julia Weinstein. In October 2023, I began my Lectureship in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield.
- Research interests
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I lead the Optoelectronic Devices and Spectroscopy Group (ODSG), a multidisciplinary research group based in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield. We are interested in understanding the materials science, physics and chemistry of emerging semiconductors for practical applications, especially in photovoltaic or LED devices.
The group works across the boundaries of high performance device development and understanding, materials engineering and advanced spectroscopic techniques. This multidisciplinary approach allows us to identify the design rules for next-generation optoelectronic devices. Our ultimate aim is to discover and enhance technologies that can assist in the fight against climate change.
Key research interests:
- Photovoltaics
- Optoelectronics
- Metal halide perovskites
- Device physics
- Optical spectroscopy
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Bandgap-universal passivation enables stable perovskite solar cells with low photovoltage loss. Science, 384(6697), 767-775.
- Strong coupling in molecular systems: a simple predictor employing routine optical measurements. Nanophotonics, 13(14), 2453-2467. View this article in WRRO
- Ultrasonic Spray Deposition of a Passivating Agent for Spray‐Coated, Methylammonium‐Free Perovskite Solar Cells. Solar RRL, 8(2).
- Impact of interface energetic alignment and mobile ions on charge carrier accumulation and extraction in p‐i‐n perovskite solar cells. Advanced Energy Materials. View this article in WRRO
- Open-circuit and short-circuit loss management in wide-gap perovskite p-i-n solar cells. Nature Communications, 14.
- Synergistic Surface Modification of Tin–Lead Perovskite Solar Cells. Advanced Materials, 35(9).
- A Universal Perovskite Nanocrystal Ink for High‐Performance Optoelectronic Devices. Advanced Materials, 35(8). View this article in WRRO
- Thermally stable perovskite solar cells by all-vacuum deposition. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 15(1), 772-781. View this article in WRRO
- Impact of Hole‐Transport Layer and Interface Passivation on Halide Segregation in Mixed‐Halide Perovskites. Advanced Functional Materials, 32(41).
- Visualizing Macroscopic Inhomogeneities in Perovskite Solar Cells. ACS Energy Letters, 7(7), 2311-2322.
- Scalable processing for realizing 21.7%-efficient all-perovskite tandem solar modules. Science, 376(6594), 762-767.
- Solvent-free method for defect reduction and improved performance of p-i-n vapor-deposited perovskite solar cells. ACS Energy Letters, 7(6), 1903-1911. View this article in WRRO
- Optoelectronic Properties of Mixed Iodide–Bromide Perovskites from First-Principles Computational Modeling and Experiment. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 13(18), 4184-4192.
- Understanding and suppressing non-radiative losses in methylammonium-free wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells. Energy & Environmental Science, 15(2), 714-726. View this article in WRRO
- Halide Segregation in Mixed-Halide Perovskites: Influence of A-Site Cations. ACS Energy Letters, 6(2), 799-808.
- Thermally Stable Passivation toward High Efficiency Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells. ACS Energy Letters, 5(11), 3336-3343.
- A piperidinium salt stabilizes efficient metal-halide perovskite solar cells. Science, 369(6499), 96-102. View this article in WRRO
- Revealing Factors Influencing the Operational Stability of Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes. ACS Nano, 14(7), 8855-8865.
- Control over Crystal Size in Vapor Deposited Metal-Halide Perovskite Films. ACS Energy Letters, 5(3), 710-717.
- Unraveling Loss Mechanisms Arising from Energy‐Level Misalignment between Metal Halide Perovskites and Hole Transport Layers. Advanced Functional Materials.
- Alumina nanoparticles enable optimal spray-coated perovskite thin film growth on self-assembled monolayers for efficient and reproducible photovoltaics. Journal of Materials Chemistry C.
- The Role of the Organic Cation in Developing Efficient Green Perovskite LEDs Based on Quasi‐2D Perovskite Heterostructures. Advanced Functional Materials.
- Ultrasonic Spray Deposition of a Passivating Agent for Spray‐Coated, Methylammonium‐Free Perovskite Solar Cells. Solar RRL.
- Methylammonium-free wide-bandgap metal halide perovskites for tandem photovoltaics. Nature Reviews Materials, 8(12), 822-838.
- Alumina nanoparticle interfacial buffer layer for low‐bandgap lead‐tin perovskite solar cells. Advanced Functional Materials. View this article in WRRO
- Organic copolymer lasing from single defect microcavity fabricated using laser patterning. Journal of Materials Chemistry C. View this article in WRRO
- Binary solvent system used to fabricate fully annealing‐free perovskite solar cells. Advanced Energy Materials, 2203468-2203468. View this article in WRRO
- Phase segregation in mixed-halide perovskites affects charge-carrier dynamics while preserving mobility. Nature Communications, 12(1).
- Revealing the origin of voltage loss in mixed-halide perovskite solar cells. Energy & Environmental Science, 13(1), 258-267.
Conference proceedings papers
- Probing charge transport in heterostructured phase-segregated hybrid perovskite semiconductors with terahertz radiation. 2022 47th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz), 28 August 2022 - 2 September 2022.
- Exploring Triplet-Triplet Annihilation in Organic Materials in the Strong Light-Matter Coupling Regime. Proceedings of the MATSUS Fall 2023 Conference, 16 October 2023 - 20 October 2023.
- Bandgap-universal passivation enables stable perovskite solar cells with low photovoltage loss. Science, 384(6697), 767-775.
- Teaching activities
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MAT61021 - (MSc level) Energy Generation and Storage
MAT113 - (UG level) Chemistry and Biology of Materials
- Professional activities and memberships
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MInstP (Member of the Institute of Physics)
FHEA (Fellow of Higher Education Academy)