Research
Population increases and ever-rising living standards demand more energy than that can be supplied by fossil fuels, due to their limited reserves and adverse environmental impact. The last reliable source for long-term prosperity may be found in the Sun. However, existing technologies in tapping into the solar energy are either too expensive or too inefficient. The key to breaking the cost-efficiency dilemma, thus to the access of terra watts of renewable energy, is expected to lie in novel materials that are of relevant length scales to the energy-related processes such as charge separation, transport and recombination — nanoscale. We focus our research on novel nanomaterials and strive to apply them into applications of high-efficiency solar energy conversions. Our efforts are to create new materials and understandings that will eventually pave the way to low cost renewable energy without devastating the environment.
The research in the Wang lab bridges the conventional disciplines of chemistry (in material synthesis), physics (property characterizations) and engineering (device constructions). The interdisciplinary nature requires our group members to broadly learn knowledge in the related fields. It in turn provides invaluable training to prepare participating researchers ready for the next stages of their career.