German Fellowship Supports Star Solar Researcher

Materials Science and Engineering graduate Dr. Yanyan Yuan (MSE MASc 0T4; PhD 0T7) was recently awarded a prestigious one-year fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to further her research at the Universität zu Köln (Cologne).

The fellowship, established in 1953 by the German government, enables outstanding scholars from abroad to pursue their research in Germany. Yuan began her fellowship in October 2007.
As part of Materials Science and Engineering Professor Zheng Hong Lu’s research group since 2002, Yuan’s research has been on organic lightemitting diodes (OLEDs) which convert electricity into light. Her research, which has resulted in four patents, has been focused on developing fullerene-containing composite materials in order to improve the luminance
efficiency, thermal stability and mechanical flexibility of OLEDs.

While in Germany, Yuan is researching organic solar cells, a low-cost and environmentally friendly way to harvest sunlight and convert it into electricity. Currently there is increasing interest in combining polymers and small molecules into a hybrid solar cell, in order to capitalize on their
combined advantageous properties.

Among groups researching organic electronics, Professor Klaus Meerholz, whose team Yuan has joined in Köln, is reputed to be one of the global leaders focusing on polymer materials. Her U of T studies on organic small molecules complement the expertise in Meerholz’s lab, opening the potential to develop hybrid organic solar cells with improved spectral coverage and power conversion efficiency.

Yuan said, “Once organic solar cell technology is commercialized, it will alleviate the energy crisis, as well as the environmental stresses caused by pollution.”