PR Lab is aiming to push the limit of current state-of-the-art optoelectronic technologies by addressing the following questions.
How molecules/materials behave in presence of light?
What are the efficiency loss mechanisms?
How to harvest photogenerated carrirers efficiently?
Novel design principle to control their performance?
We develop time-resolved spectroscopic tools to investigate photodynamics in optoelectronic molecules and materials and design novel molecular breadboards. The current focus of PR Lab is alligned towards three challenging directions as follows.
Photodynamics in Molecules and Materials
Absorption of light by molecules leads to the formation of molecular excited states, consisting of coloumbically bound electron-hole pairs, called excitons. The excitons can undergo different processes (relaxation, emission, annihilation, formation of triplets and charges etc) depending on the nature of potential energy surfaces. In order to engineer the excited state potential, first it is important to understand the nature of the excited states and molecular parameters that govern their dynamics. We are investigating the photodynamics in next-generation optoelectronic molecules and materials. Novel insights thus obtained will be useful to design efficient photomaterials which will be vital to place India at the forefront of optoelectronic research. The current projects are
*Efficient blue light generation through Upconversion
*Harvesting triplets for energy conversion
Designing Molecular Optoelectronic Breadboards
Controlling the photogenerated excitons is essential for many new and emerging technologies in optoelectronics that will be vital to the economic success of India. However the current state-of-the-art optoelectronic materials are limited by the number of available methods and their efficacy in guiding these excitons for an output that can be radically new and lead to efficient emerging technologies. We are coupling different molecules and materials in Molecular optoelectronic breadboards such that the excitons can follow the designed photodynamical pathways. This will direct excitons from one place to another providing a novel output. Efficacy of these processes in the breadboard will be investigated using time-resolved spectroscopic tools. The current projects are
*Designing photodynamics in hybrid materials
* Long-range charge separation for photovoltaics
Time-resolved Spectroscopic Tools
We are developing cost-effective time-resolved electronic and vibrational spectroscopic tools to characterise the excited state photodynamics. The current projects are building
* Time-correlated single photon counting spectrometer
*Flash photolysis spectrometer
* ns-Raman spectrometer
