Shining Light on Solar Cells and Their Material Impacts

• Rachel Woods-Robinson, PhD, University of Washington Clean Energy Institute
• Sponsored by California ACS
• 10:30am-Noon, Online via Zoom, Free, Registration required

Abstract: Addressing climate change requires transitioning to renewables such as photovoltaic solar panels, but one key barrier to this transition is that we need better materials. In this talk, we’ll start at the sun and then zoom into a solar panel all the way down to the nanoscale, highlighting materials challenges that scientists face at each length scale to make solar more efficient, reliable, and sustainable. We’ll meet the different material components, such as absorbers and transparent conductors (TCs), and I’ll share some of my research into designing new TCs for solar. Next, we’ll zoom back out to discuss challenges we face beyond the lab in bringing solar to society, including critical raw materials, environmental impacts, and “green sacrifice zones.” Lastly, I’ll share some insights from my outreach project Cycle for Science and college course Cycle the Rockies.

About the speaker: Rachel Woods-Robinson (she/her) received a B.S. in Physics from UCLA, and a Ph.D. at U.C. Berkeley and Berkeley Lab designing new crystals for solar energy by combining computational chemistry, thin film growth, and device fabrication. Rachel recently started as a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Washington’s Clean Energy Institute to study environmental and human impacts of such new solar materials. In addition to research goals to curtail climate change, Rachel aims to support scientists in sharing our work accessibly and engaging collaboratively with our communities, and loves outdoor adventuring. She co-founded “Cycle for Science,” in which scientists go on bicycle tours and visit K-12 classes to teach hands-on lessons about sustainability, and she instructs “Cycle the Rockies” (Wild Rockies Field Institute), an immersive month-long course in which undergrads ride bicycles across Montana to learn about local energy and climate impacts.