Shining light on solar cells and their material impacts - Livestream

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.

Speaker: Rachel Woods-Robinson, University of Washington

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