Shubhra Bansal (Mechanical Engineering) has received from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop novel Pb-free and stable mixed halide-chalcogenide perovskite materials for high-efficiency solar cells. Pb-based organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (HPSCs) have shown tremendous promise with a big leap in efficiency, however, toxicity of Pb and instability of these materials is a challenge. Bansal will develop high-efficiency Pb-free perovskite solar cells via defect engineering and novel electron/hole transport layers. With this five-year grant, Bansal also will train underrepresented minority students in climate change and materials for renewable energy technologies. NSF CAREER Awards support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research and education. CAREER is among NSF’s most prestigious honors.
Bansal joined 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ in 2015. Her research has focused on understanding the evolution of defects in materials and effect of defect engineering on reliability and metastability. Her research group at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ works on materials development and reliability analyses for thin-film photovoltaics, flexible electronics, sensors, and detectors. Her research has been funded by department of energy, and NSF and NASA EPSCoR programs.
