Post date: May 01, 2019 11:50:47 AM
The lasts months at MIT have been much busier than expected, so I could manage to write on this blog only today. Many things are popping up in this last period, so that it is very difficult to handle everything. Even if I am working hard, everything is very exiting and stimulating. This is probably the last time I will manage to update this blog from Boston. That's the reason of the title I chose.
In March I attended the APS March meeting where I gave a talk named "Interplay between flexoelectric and thermoelectric effects in bismuth telluride thin films". In this presentation I showed some interesting results I obtained on flexible bismuth telluride thin films, when subjected to a strain gradient. This is a study at the intersection between, thermoelectrics, piezoelectrics, and photovoltaics. There is plenty of room for novel research and innovation there. I am sure I want to continue to deepen my understanding on this matter.
At the APS I also had the occasion to meet and discuss with some professors and researchers. In particular my supervisor helped me to get in touch with a professor from the University of Huston who can help me and my group in Italy to perform some important characterization on our silicon thin film samples. This is widening my array of collaborations and I am learning many interesting and useful things.
In March I also learnt that I will be a lecturer of the upcoming International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi" on "Advances in Thermoelectricity: Foundational Issues Materials, and Nanotechnology", happening on July in Italy. This is a very important and famous school series created by Enrico Fermi that this year will be focused on thermoelectrics. I am very exited and honored for this.
Regarding lab work. In these months I deepen my understanding on perovskite solar cells. My collaboration with the OLABs group at the university of Tor Vergata in Italy is now getting strong, and they are very interested on my project. I am pretty confident that soon I will realize my first hybrid device with their solar cells. In these days I working at some calculations in order to define the design of the system.
In April I concluded the Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program. I learned so many things and everything was so interesting. I looking forward to apply what I learned in real teaching situations. Maybe the summer school will be my first chance.
Finally something new appeared at the horizon. This was an idea I had a while ago, but I had to wait for some difficult characterization from a colleague.
We probably have a new and very interesting photovoltaic material in our hands. This is something really novel, never reported in literature. It could be a good work to add on my experiences. I looking forward to dig more into it.