Dr. Letian Dou, the Charles Davidson Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University, is leading a team of Purdue researchers that has reached the semifinal round in a national solar competition for their research in the area of stable and scalable perovskite solar cells. The competition is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The American-Made Solar Prize is a competition with $3 million in total prizes designed to revitalize U.S. solar manufacturing through a series of contests and the development of a diverse and powerful support network that leverages National Laboratories, energy incubators, and other resources across the country.

The program, which was announced in January 2018, allows researchers to compete through series of rounds. Dr. Dou’s team has advanced to the Solar Prize Round 4 semifinals. They are one of only 20 semifinalist teams selected from over 130 applicants to continue in the contest. As semifinalists, they have been awarded a monetary prize of $50,000 and the opportunity to advance in the competition.

“In this project, we are translating our recent fundamental discoveries about stable perovskite materials into high-performance solar cell devices,” explained Dr. Dou. “This Solar Prize is important for us to greatly accelerate the technology development process towards commercialization.”

As part of their submission entry, Dr. Dou’s team included a video produced by graduate student Aidan Coffey explaining their solar research technology, which can be viewed here:

Learn more about Dr. Letian Dou: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/people/ptProfile?resource_id=169342

Learn more about the American-Made Solar Prize competition: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/american-made-solar-prize

Learn more about the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL): https://www.nrel.gov

Source: Dr. Letian Dou, dou10@purdue.edu, (765) 494-4194