Group leader
Udo Bach is a full professor at Monash University, the Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science and an ANFF-VIC Technology Fellow at the Melbourne Centre of Nanofabrication (MCN). He received his PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL, Switzerland) working in the research group of Prof Michael Grätzel and worked for 3 years in a technology start-up company in Dublin (Ireland). Subsequently he spent 15 months as a postdoc in the group of Prof. Paul Alivisatos in UC Berkeley (USA) before moving to Monash University in November 2005 to establish his own research group.
Prof Bach has a strong background in the area of photovoltaics and nanofabrication. He is involved in fundamental and applied research in the area of perovskite and dye-sensitized solar cells. He has additional research activities in the area of nanofabrication, DNA-directed self-assembly, nanoprinting, plasmonics for sensing, photovoltaic applications and combinatorial photovoltaic materials discovery.
Postdoctoral fellows
Dr. Wei Li
Dr. Wei Li completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales in Photovoltaic engineering with supervisors Prof Martin Green and Dr Sergey Valarmov. Since coming to Monash early 2015, Wei’s research topic is perovskite solar cells and material micro-structure analysis by electron microscope
Dr. Askhat Jumabekov
Dr. Askhat Jumabekov completed his PhD studies at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany in Physical Chemistry. Askhat is based at the CSIRO as part of Prof. Bach’s group. His focus is on Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells.
Dr. Sebastian Fürer
Dr. Sebastian Fürer received is Master of Science in Chemistry in 2011 from the University of Basel in Switzerland. During his PhD he worked on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) and completed it in 2015. At Monash he will develop new transition-metal solid state hole transporting materials (ssHTMs) for use in perovskite, dye-sensitized and p-type solar cells.
Dr. Sonia Ruiz Raga
Dr. Sonia R. Raga completed in 2013 her PhD studies about Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells in Juan Bisquert's group at Universitat Jaume I, Spain. She joined the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology for a 4-year postdoc in Yabing Qi's lab mastering the surface science studies of perovskite-based solar cells and developing new film fabrication methods. At Monash she will focus on the improvement of the stability of perovskite-based devices and understanding the exciting and unique electrical properties of this material. Dr. Raga has over 27 publications related to solar cells in high impact peer-reviewed journals with an h-index of 18 (Web of Science, Feb 2018).
Dr. Kalim Kashif
Dr. Kalim’s research focuses on the design and synthesis of novel organic and inorganic electroactive materials and toward the fundamental understanding of their charge transport properties and subsequent applications in energy devices. Dr. Kalim did his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Udo Bach and the late Professor Leone Spiccia. He did his MPhil studies under the supervision of Prof. Shahid Hameed at Quaid-i-Azam University.
Dr. Kevin Rietwyk
Dr. Kevin Rietwyk concluded his PhD studies on the electronic properties of semiconductor surfaces at La Trobe University in 2014. He has since enjoyed a 3.5 year post-doctoral appointment at the Zaban laboratory in Bar-Ilan University in Israel, investigating new metal oxide compounds for photovoltaics before joining the Bach group. At Monash, Kevin will employ combinatorial tools to rapidly explore the properties of mixed hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite compounds.
Dr. Jian-Feng Lu
Dr. Jianfeng Lu completed his PhD at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2015. Since coming to Monash, Jianfeng's research topic is novel materials and strategy for perovskite solar cells.
PhD students
Miss. Rebecca Milhuisen
Miss. Rebecca Milhuisen completed her BSc./BEng in Mathematics, Physics and Materials Engineering here at Monash University. Currently working with Prof. Udo Bach on her thesis titled "Investigation of new redox active materials for thin film solar cells".
Mr. Qicheng Hou
Mr. Qicheng Hou completed his Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in the field of Materials Engineering at Monash University. He is working with Prof. Bach on Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells and Back-contact Perovskite Solar Cells.
Mr. Xiongfeng Lin
Mr. Xiongfeng Lin, Linton completed his Bachelor of Materials Engineering under The China Linkage Engineering Program, a co-operative program between Central South University in China and Monash University. Linton’s research topic is Interfacial engineering of perovskite based photovoltaic devices.
Mr. Wenxin Mao
Mr. Wenxin Mao completed his Masters in Chemical Engineering at the Dalian University of Technology in China and came to Monash University in 2015. Wenxin’s research topic is Synthesis and application of perovskite based novel materials.
Miss. Dorota Bącal
Miss. Dorota Bącal completed both her BSc in Physics and MSc in Physics at the University of Rzeszów, Poland, where she studied silicon and Cds/CdTe solar cells. Coming to Australia in 2016 to work with Prof Bach has enabled Dorota to start with her research interest in the area of back-contact perovskite solar cells.
Miss. Boer Tan
Miss. Boer Tan completed her Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Materials Engineering here at Monash University under The China Linkage Engineering Program. After working as a summer research student with Prof Bach, Boer is continuing with her studies in the area of perovskite solar cells and currently she's working on doping of the hole transporting layer.
Mr. Adam Surmiak
In 2014 Mr Maciej Adam Surmiak graduated from Wroclaw University of Science and Technology https://pwr.edu.pl/en with both Master's and Bachelor's Degrees. He earned bachelor's Degree in Electronics and Telecommunications and Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering: Electronics Sensors.
In 2015 he went to University Nebraska-Lincoln where he gained postgraduate experience in Electronics and Computer Science. Then he gained an industrial experience as electronics and mechanical engineer in London, United Kingdom and in Sydney, Australia.
In 2017 Adam joined Udo Bach’s Research Group to continue his scientific career working in Advanced Photovoltaics Laboratory at Monash University in Melbourne. His PhD research topic focuses on High-throughput perovskite solar cell materials discovery. It positively impacts the emerging technology announced by the research world as a promising substitute of silicon solar cells.
Adam wants to thank Monash University, Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (www.acap.net.au) and Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science (www.excitonscience.com) for funding his research, opportunities for collaborations and great support.
Visitors
Miss. Samira Aden
Samira Aden is an architect and design researcher exploring relationships between art, architecture and science, located within the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Kassel, Germany.
As part of the BUILDING ART INVENTION (Bau Kunst Erfinden) group lead by Prof. Heike Klussmann which conducts research at the intersection of visual arts, architecture, urban planning, industrial- and interaction design, experimental physics, digital fabrication and material science and applies that knowledge into architecture, spanning the full range from nanometer to building scale. Her current research concerns the development of highly innovative functional building materials and concepts, such as ‘‘DysCrete’ (energy generating concrete).The latter entails the integration of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), and emerging thin-film photovolatic technologies, into prefabricated concrete segments. Areas of application include architectural and product design, as well as digital fabrication and construction. Further information at www.baukunsterfinden.org www.samiraaden.com
Dr. Giovanni DeLuca
Giovanni DeLuca (Gio) is a visiting researcher from Georgia Institute of Technology. Gio has worked with thin films and nanomaterials for ~10 years starting with liquid crystal Langmuir-Blodgett films with the University of West Florida's Physics department in collaboration with University of West Florida's Chemistry department. He then moved into industry, working with Pall Corporation on polymer thin films for filtration and purification of biopharmaceuticals. His collaborative work between Monash University, CSIRO, and Georgia Tech involves the design and development of tandem solar energy harvesting devices using novel thin film materials. Gio is interested in environmental and energy policy and plans to get involved with policy making to advance the field of renewable energy.