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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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Tuning Thermal Stability through Dopant Size in Chemically Doped DPP–Thiophene Polymers

Daniel Morton — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 18:17:09 +0000

Tuning Thermal Stability through Dopant Size in Chemically Doped DPP–Thiophene Polymers Daniel Morton Fri, 02/20/2026 - 11:17

CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS, 2026, 38, 5, 2293-2304

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Locking in Solar Power: How a Stronger Interlayer Boosts Perovskite Cell Durability

Daniel Morton — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 19:31:00 +0000

Locking in Solar Power: How a Stronger Interlayer Boosts Perovskite Cell Durability Daniel Morton Mon, 01/05/2026 - 12:31

New Molecular Designs Extend the Life and Efficiency of Next-Generation Solar Cells

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Posted on the RASEI website with permission and minor modifications from the piece published by David DeFusco on the UNC Chapel Hill Applied Physical Sciences Site here.

A new study published in Science led by researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill, with collaborators from the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI), explains why perovskite solar cells—fast-rising rivals to traditional silicon panels—tend to break down under prolonged heat and sunlight, especially ultraviolet light, and reveals a promising strategy to dramatically slow that damage.

The work focuses on a thin “interlayer” that sits between the electrode and the perovskite material inside a solar cell. This layer is only a single molecule thick, but it plays an outsized role in how long the device lasts.

“These interlayers are meant to help charges move efficiently out of the perovskite and into the circuit,” said Chengbin Fei, first author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in UNC’s Department of Applied Physical Sciences. “But we found that some of the same chemical features that make them useful can also cause long-term damage if they’re not tightly attached to the electrode.”

Many high-performance perovskite solar cells use interlayers based on phosphonic acids. These molecules stick to a transparent electrode made of indium tin oxide, or ITO, and help pull positive charges out of the perovskite. Until now, most researchers assumed these layers were harmless once installed. Fei and his colleagues discovered that this is not always true.

The researchers found that some of these tiny helper molecules aren’t firmly stuck to the solar cell’s surface. When the cell gets hot or sits in sunlight that includes ultraviolet rays, those that are loosely attached molecules can break free. Once that happens, they start interfering with the solar material itself. They trigger harmful changes inside the cell: key ingredients fall apart, iodine-related components react in damaging ways and lead turns into a form that no longer works properly. Over time, all of this damage adds up and causes the solar cell to produce less and less electricity.

“In simple terms, the acid part of these molecules can act like a slow poison,” said Fei. “At high temperatures and under UV light, it accelerates chemical reactions that the perovskite just can’t tolerate.”

To understand what was happening, the researchers used a range of techniques, including spectroscopy and X-ray measurements, to watch how the materials changed over time. They found that stronger acids caused faster damage and that UV light made the reactions much worse. This explained why devices that look stable at first can fail after hundreds or thousands of hours outdoors.

The key advance came when the researchers at UNC and the University of Colorado Boulder created a new version of this thin helper layer containing a combination of two molecules that sticks much more tightly to the electrode surface. Seth Marder, the senior author at the University of Colorado-Boulder and Director of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) says “the molecule our team developed was designed to not only interact with the electrode surface but more strongly with its neighboring molecules. Consequently the molecules stay more securely in place, reducing the reactive parts that can break away and damage the solar material that is deposited on top ”. As a result, the layer still helps charges flow out of the cell, but it no longer triggers the damaging reactions that shorten the cell’s lifetime.

Simply put, “when the molecule is firmly locked onto the surface, it can’t wander into the perovskite and cause trouble,” said Fei. “That simple change makes a huge difference over time.”

Solar cells made with the new interlayer design showed striking improvements and met a key performance milestone. Under harsh test conditions—85 degrees Celsius, continuous bright light that included UV and constant operation—the devices ran for nearly 3,000 hours before losing just 10 percent of their efficiency. That level of durability has not been reported before for this type of perovskite solar cell.

The molecule our team developed was designed to not only interact with the electrode surface but more strongly with its neighboring molecules. Consequently the molecules stay more securely in place, reducing the reactive parts that can break away and damage the solar material that is deposited on top.
- Seth Marder

The researchers also scaled up their approach to small solar modules, closer to what might be used in real products. These “minimodules,” about the size of a postcard, reached power conversion efficiencies above 22 percent and kept working for more than 2,000 hours under the same stressful conditions, which is considered very high performance for this type of solar technology.

Jinsong Huang, senior author of the paper and UNC Louis D. Rubin Distinguished Professor, said the results address one of the most important barriers to commercialization. “Efficiency alone is not enough,” he said. “For perovskite solar technology to succeed outside the lab, it must survive heat, light and time. This work shows a clear chemical pathway to make that happen.”

Beyond improving one specific material, the study sends a broader message to the field. Tiny details at buried interfaces—places that are hard to see and easy to overlook—can control the lifetime of an entire solar module. By understanding and managing these details, researchers can design devices that last far longer.

“This study reminds us that stability is a chemistry problem as much as an engineering one,” said Wei You, a co-author of the study and UNC Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Applied Physical Sciences. “Once you understand the chemistry, you can start to fix it.”

January 2026

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Limiting phosphonic acid interlayer–perovskite reactivity to stabilize perovskite solar modules

Daniel Morton — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:02:56 +0000

Limiting phosphonic acid interlayer–perovskite reactivity to stabilize perovskite solar modules Daniel Morton Thu, 01/01/2026 - 17:02

SCIENCE, 2026, 391, 6780, eadz7969

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P-Type Doping of Mixed Tin–Lead Halide Perovskites Using Electron Transfer to Mo(tfd-COCF3)3 and F4TCNQ

Daniel Morton — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 18:42:59 +0000

P-Type Doping of Mixed Tin–Lead Halide Perovskites Using Electron Transfer to Mo(tfd-COCF3)3 and F4TCNQ Daniel Morton Wed, 12/10/2025 - 11:42

ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES, 2025, 17, 51, 69676-69685

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Deposition-Dependent Coverage and Performance of Phosphonic Acid Interface Modifiers in Halide Perovskite Optoelectronics

Daniel Morton — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 18:35:36 +0000

Deposition-Dependent Coverage and Performance of Phosphonic Acid Interface Modifiers in Halide Perovskite Optoelectronics Daniel Morton Wed, 11/26/2025 - 11:35

ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES, 2025, 17, 49, 67197-67209

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Layer-by-layer epitaxial growth of perovskite heterostructures with tunable band offsets

Daniel Morton — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 17:20:37 +0000

Layer-by-layer epitaxial growth of perovskite heterostructures with tunable band offsets Daniel Morton Fri, 11/14/2025 - 10:20

SCIENCE, 2025, 390, 6774, 716-721
November 2025

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Surface Passivation for Halide Optoelectronics: Comparing Optimization and Reactivity of Amino-Silanes with Formamidinium

Daniel Morton — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 18:17:31 +0000

Surface Passivation for Halide Optoelectronics: Comparing Optimization and Reactivity of Amino-Silanes with Formamidinium Daniel Morton Fri, 11/07/2025 - 11:17

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 2025, 147, 46, 42918-42925

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Anomalous Stiffening of a Conjugated Polymer During Electrochemical Oxidation

Daniel Morton — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 17:33:25 +0000

Anomalous Stiffening of a Conjugated Polymer During Electrochemical Oxidation Daniel Morton Fri, 10/17/2025 - 11:33

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, 2025, e19980
October 2025

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Spin Interactions in Supramolecular Assemblies of Porphyrin Oligomer Radical Anions

Daniel Morton — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 23:37:06 +0000

Spin Interactions in Supramolecular Assemblies of Porphyrin Oligomer Radical Anions Daniel Morton Tue, 10/07/2025 - 17:37

ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION, 2025, e202518425

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