Berry

CHOISE Scientific Collaboration Awarded the 2026 Royal Society of Chemistry Faraday Horizon Prize

Daniel Morton — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:41:23 +0000

CHOISE Scientific Collaboration Awarded the 2026 Royal Society of Chemistry Faraday Horizon Prize Daniel Morton Tue, 06/23/2026 - 18:41

Daniel Morton

The Center for Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Semiconductors for Energy (CHOISE) has been awarded the 2026 Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Faraday Horizon Prize, in recognition of its creation of a new class of chiral semiconductors that unify the control of spin, charge, and light within a single electronically active material platform.

CHOISE is a Department of Energy-funded Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) bringing together 17 research groups from nine institutions: the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Duke University, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, San Diego State University, the University of Toledo, the University of Utah, and the University of California Santa Cruz. The Center includes seven RASEI Fellows, and is led by Fellow Matt Beard of NLR.

RASEI Fellows Kirstin Alberi (NLR), Steve Barlow (CU Boulder), Joseph Berry (NLR), Jeff Blackburn (NLR), Joseph Luther (NLR), and Seth Marder (CU Boulder) are all part of the collaboration.

The RSC Faraday Horizon Prize is awarded annually in recognition of significant recent discoveries and advances in physical chemistry. In selecting CHOISE, the prize committee highlighted both the scientific excellence and the collaborative character of the work, recognizing how the team has come together across disciplines and institutions to develop innovative ideas.

At the heart of CHOISE's prize-winning research is chirality, the property by which molecules exist in distinct left- and right-handed forms. By embedding chirality directly into a semiconductor, the team has demonstrated that molecular handedness can govern the behavior of charge carriers and their spin. This establishes a fundamentally new paradigm for spin-dependent optoelectronics: technologies that use both light and electrical signals to process and transmit information.

Optoelectronic devices already underpin much of modern life, from the fiber-optic networks that carry global internet traffic, to the sensors in medical imaging, and the LEDs and lasers in everyday electronics. However, the next generation of technologies, including applications such as quantum computing, ultra-secure communications, and energy-efficient data processing, will demand far greater control over the quantum properties of electrons, particularly their spin. Conventional semiconductors offer limited means to achieve this. This is where this work comes in. CHOISE's chiral semiconductor platform opens a new route to that control, using the inherent geometry of molecules rather than complex external hardware to influence the properties of the signal. This could ultimately lead to devices that are not only more powerful, but significantly more energy-efficient.

JUNE 2026

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Electrochemical quantification of phosphonic acid passivated surface sites of NiOx for perovskite solar cells

Daniel Morton — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 17:26:07 +0000

Electrochemical quantification of phosphonic acid passivated surface sites of NiOx for perovskite solar cells Daniel Morton Mon, 01/12/2026 - 10:26

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, 2026, 19, 884-895

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Historical and future learning for the new era of multi-terawatt photovoltaics

Daniel Morton — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 00:12:40 +0000

Historical and future learning for the new era of multi-terawatt photovoltaics Daniel Morton Tue, 12/23/2025 - 17:12

NATURE ENERGY, 2025

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Six RASEI Fellows featured among the 2025 Clarivate highly cited researchers

Daniel Morton — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:09:48 +0000

Six RASEI Fellows featured among the 2025 Clarivate highly cited researchers Daniel Morton Thu, 11/20/2025 - 09:09

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RIO Highlight

NLR Highlight

Six RASEI Fellows highlighted as Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers in their 2025 list. Congratulations to Matt Beard, Joe Berry, Joey Luther, Mike McGehee, Mike Toney, and Merritt Turetsky!

Each year Clarivate, the parent company of Web of Science, performs an evaluation and selection process to identify and recognize researchers whose exceptional and community-wide contributions shape the future of science, technology, and academia globally. The evaluation is an evolving process, which employs criteria to address issues including hyper-prolific authorship, excessive self-citation, anomalous publication and citation patterns and profiles, in an attempt to ensure that recognized researchers meet the benchmarks they have developed.

This provides a mechanism to provide a snapshot of the global research landscape of current top-tier research talent, providing insights on global research and innovation trends.

In 2025 Clarivate designated 7131 Highly Cited Researcher awards to 6868 individuals. (Some researchers were recognized in more than one category).

This recognition highlights the cutting-edge research being done by the RASEI community. Congratulations again to our Fellows.

November 2025

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Predicting Trends in VOC Through Rapid, Multimodal Characterization of State-of-the-Art p-i-n Perovskite Devices

Daniel Morton — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 18:24:03 +0000

Predicting Trends in VOC Through Rapid, Multimodal Characterization of State-of-the-Art p-i-n Perovskite Devices Daniel Morton Fri, 11/07/2025 - 11:24

ACS ENERGY LETTERS, 2025, 10, 6014-6021

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RASEI Fellow Joe Berry featured in BBC article on Perovskites

Daniel Morton — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 15:33:36 +0000

RASEI Fellow Joe Berry featured in BBC article on Perovskites Daniel Morton Thu, 10/16/2025 - 09:33

October 2025

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Why are Lead Iodide-Based Perovskite Precursor Inks Yellow?

Daniel Morton — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 23:58:30 +0000

Why are Lead Iodide-Based Perovskite Precursor Inks Yellow? Daniel Morton Sun, 10/05/2025 - 17:58

ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS, 2025, e02813

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In Situ Electrochemistry of Buried Interfaces in Metal Halide Perovskites: Probing Energy Bands, Halide Redox Activity, and Kinetics

Daniel Morton — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 23:29:43 +0000

In Situ Electrochemistry of Buried Interfaces in Metal Halide Perovskites: Probing Energy Bands, Halide Redox Activity, and Kinetics Daniel Morton Mon, 09/22/2025 - 17:29

ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS, 2025, e02719

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Powering the Future: U.S. Students Gain International Experience Through Photovoltaics Research in Berlin

Daniel Morton — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:43:01 +0000

Powering the Future: U.S. Students Gain International Experience Through Photovoltaics Research in Berlin Daniel Morton Tue, 08/26/2025 - 13:43

Lauren Scholz

A summer of international research concludes as U.S. students contribute to solar innovation in Berlin while gaining hands-on training and global scientific perspective through the NSF-IRES Program.

We are proud to celebrate the successful completion of our first cohort of students bound for Berlin as part of the National Science Foundation International Research Experience for Students (NSF-IRES) Program in metal-halide perovskite photovoltaics. Over the course of ten intensive weeks, nine students from universities across the United States immersed themselves in collaborative research at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. Their work focused on advancing next-generation solar technologies—specifically, the development and optimization of metal-halide perovskite solar cells.

This timely exchange supported critical progress in the field of photovoltaics, where metal-halide perovskites offer promising pathways to higher efficiency and more versatile solar solutions beyond the limits of conventional silicon-based technologies. By engaging directly with leading German research teams, students not only deepened their technical knowledge and experimental skills but also gained valuable cross-cultural experience and a global perspective on scientific collaboration.

Selected for their academic excellence and commitment to renewable energy innovation, the participants—ranging from undergraduate to graduate level—contributed to a variety of interdisciplinary projects in chemistry, physics, materials science, and engineering. Their contributions helped strengthen the scientific partnerships between U.S. and German institutions and demonstrated the impact of international collaboration in addressing global climate and energy challenges.

Find out more about the 2025 IRES Cohort

2025 NSF IRES-Perovskites participants. Pictured (left to right): Megan Davis, Keya Amundsen, Jiselle Ye, Jack Schall, Keenan Wyatt, Kell Fremouw, Leo Beck, Gabriel Graf. Not pictured: Arial Brookhart.

August 2025

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Formation trajectories of solution-processed perovskite thin films from mixed solvents

Daniel Morton — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 20:06:17 +0000

Formation trajectories of solution-processed perovskite thin films from mixed solvents Daniel Morton Wed, 07/16/2025 - 14:06

CELL REPORTS PHYSICAL SCIENCE, 2025, 6, 7, 102655

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