Overview
Kieran is a PhD student, supervised by Monica Carciun and Saverio Russo as part of the XM2 CDT for Metamaterials. He completed an MSci (Chemistry and Physics) at Durham University in 2016, where he researched Polymers of High Internal Phase Emusions (PolyHIPE materials), characterizing nanoparticle and functionalized polymer distributuions within their macroporous structures.
His key research interests lie in the fabrication and characterization of materials for photovoltaic devices. As such, his current project looks at the design and fabrication of 2D transparent conductive electrodes from FeCl3 intercalated graphene. These electrodes possess low sheet resistance while retaining high transparency and flexibility, allowing their use in flexible solar cells made from organic photovoltaic materials. Past projects have included optimising the transfer and intercalation process for large area (7x7cm) graphene samples (https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/32981) characterising the surface roughness of intercalated graphene samples and mapping work function changes using Scanning Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (SKPFM) and using solvent assisted transfers to fabricate graphene electrodes from Liquid Phase Exfoliated Graphene (https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201802953).
His current work looks at fabricating and characterising fully flexible organic solar cells from high performance organic acceptor/donor molecules and graphene electrodes.
