2024 Materials Chemistry Early Career Prize Winner
Dr Nicola Gasparini, Imperial College London
For understanding charge recombination processes in organic and perovskite semiconductors for high performance photovoltaic and photodetector devices.
Dr Gasparini’s research is aiding our understanding of thin-film semiconductor materials used in solar and photodetector applications. These materials are about as thin as a human hair, and yet they can conduct electricity and convert light into usable current, similar to inorganic semiconductors like silicon. However, unlike inorganics, organic (carbon-based) and perovskite (a material with a crystal structure following the formula ABX3) semiconductors are lightweight, flexible, solution-processable, and cost-effective for large-area manufacturing. They can also convert weak indoor light into electricity more efficiently than other photovoltaic (PV) technologies.
Nicola’s research has revealed charge recombination processes in organic and perovskite solar cells and photodetectors. These technologies are essential in our society: for cost-effective, reliable, durable, and efficient devices and for more sustainable energy generation solutions that can replace, for example, primary batteries.
| Year | Name | Institution | Citation |
| 2023 | Professor Ludmilla Steier MRSC | University of Oxford | Awarded for seminal contributions to the understanding of defect chemistry in semiconducting materials and interfacial energetics in photocatalytic and photovoltaic devices. |
| 2022 | Dr Lucy Clark | University of Birmingham | Awarded for outstanding contributions to the discovery, characterisation and understanding of quantum magnets. |
| 2021 | Professor David Scanlon | University College London | Awarded for contributions to materials modelling of conducting oxides. |
Re-thinking recognition: Science prizes for the modern world
This report is the result of an independent review of our recognition programmes. Our aim in commissioning this review was to ensure that our recognition portfolio continues to deliver the maximum impact for chemical scientists, chemistry and society.