Tacc Podcasts

Some scientists think there might be light at the end of the tunnel in the hunt for better semiconductor materials for solar cells and LEDs. That’s according to an August 2017 study that used supercomputer simulations with graphics processing units to model nanocrystals of silicon. Solar cells have a problem with heat. Photovoltaics on solar panels lose some energy as heat in when they convert sunlight to electricity. The reverse holds true for LED lights, which convert electricity into light. Scientists call the heat loss in LEDs and solar cells non-radiative recombination. And they’ve struggled to understand the basic physics of this heat loss, especially for materials with molecules of over 20 atoms. Podcast host Jorge Salazar interviews Benjamin Levine, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at Michigan State University. Dr. Levine models the behavior caused by defects in materials, such as doping bulk silicon to transform it into semiconductors in transistors, LEDs, and solar cells. Levine