Achievement

Daren Davoux is working on the simulation and fabrication of photovoltaic devices using nanostructured amorphous materials for enhanced performance. He has performed both optical simulations using Finite-Difference-Time-Domain (FDTD) analysis as well as electrical simulations using coupled drift/diffusion and Poisson's equations including defect states. His research has shown that by etching vertical nanorods into an amorphous silicon film,the optical path is decoupled from the electrical path, yielding a potential for a five-fold improvement in PV efficiency over traditional single layer amorphous silicon PV devices of equal thicknesses. His work was featured in the 2012 IGERT poster competition.