Kitty Kumar, a Materials Science & Engineering PhD Candidate, recently beat out more than 900 competitors to receive the Best Poster Award at the 38th annual IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC).
The IEEE-PVSC, which was held on June 3–8 in Austin, Texas, is one of the top technical events for photovoltaic scientists and engineers around the world.
Supervised by Professor and MSE Chair Jun Nogami, Associate Professor Nazir P. Kherani (ECE, MSE), and Professor Peter R. Herman (ECE), Kumar’s work addresses the capability to maximize light absorption in crystalline silicon (c-Si) – the primary material found in commercial photovoltaics.
Her award-winning research demonstrates a novel method of using high-resolution laser writing on thin wafers of c-Si to enable a unique chemical etching process. This process results in a nano-scale surface structure that drastically reduces light deflection over an unprecedented range.
“I’m particularly excited about these results as they are directly relevant to energy and sustainability, which are two major themes for the Department of Materials Science & Engineering,” says Professor Nogami. “It has been very rewarding to pursue this collaboration with both professors Kherani and Herman. This project shows how interdisciplinary collaboration within the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering enables us to expand our expertise beyond what might have been achieved by each of our groups individually.”
Kumar also came in third place in the research talk competition at the NSERC Photovoltaic Innovation Network’s Next Generation Solar conference, held on May 14 and 15.
