Department of Physics and Astronomy

Faculty

Research

Dr. Yan researches energy materials including photovoltaics, such as with perovskite solar cells, and hydrogen production and utilization. In his work he uses a combination of density functional theory (DFT), material synthesis, and device fabrication and characterization.

Dr. Yan is a world-class leader in theory, characterization and fabrication of thin-film solar cells including perovskite solar cell. Solar cells using perovskite cost less and are more efficient than the familiar silicon solar cell.

Dr. Yan's work with the University of Toronto to generate record-setting voltage with an extremely high-efficiency all-perovskite tandem solar cell. A tandem cell combines multiple transparent layers to absorb a wider range of the wavelengths in sunlight. Their tandem solar cell’s power-conversion efficiency also broke the record for traditional silicon cells.

Dr. Yan also applies this work to hydrogen power, in particular generating hydrogen by using perovskite solar cells to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The higher efficiency of the perovskite solar cells leads to greater energy for splitting water.

In 2011 Dr. Yan earned the R&D 100 Award and was recognized as an American Physical Society Fellow. Since coming to Toledo Dr. Yan's excellence in research has been recognized by a number of awards from the University of Toledo: the President’s Award for Excellence in Creativity and Scholarly Activity for three years in a row (2018, 2021, 2022), the 2015 Provost Shining Star Faculty Award, and the 2014 Sigma Xi/Dion D. Raftopoulos Award for Outstanding Research.

Publications

• L. Chen, C. Li, Y. Xian, S. Fu, A. Abudulimu, D.‐B. Li, J. D. Friedl, Y. Li, S. Neupane, M. S. Tumusange, N. Sun, X. Wang, R. J. Ellingson, M. J. Heben, N. J. Podraza, Z. Song, Y. Yan, “Incorporating Potassium Citrate to Improve the Performance of Tin‐Lead Perovskite Solar Cells.” Adv. Energy Mat. 2301218 (2023)
• C. Li, X. Wang, E. Bi, F. Jiang, S. M. Park, Y. Li, L. Chen, Z. Wang, L. Zeng, H. Chen, Y. Liu, C. R. Grice, A. Abudulimu, J. Chung, Y. Xian, T. Zhu, H. Lai, B. Chen, R. J. Ellingson, F. Fu, D. S. Ginger, Z. Song, E. H. Sargent, and Y. Yan. “Rational design of Lewis base molecules for stable and efficient inverted perovskite solar cells.” Science 379, 690-694 (2023)
• C. Fei, N. Li, M. Wang, X. Wang, H. Gu, B. Chen, Z. Zhang, Z. Ni, H. Jiao, W. Xu, Z. Shi, Y. Yan, J. Huang, “Lead-chelating hole-transport layers for efficient and stable perovskite minimodules.” Science 380, 823-829 (2023)
• Q. Jiang, J. Tong, Y. Xian, R. A. Kerner, S. P. Dunfield, C. Xiao, R. A. Scheidt, D. Kuciauskas, X. Wang, M. P. Hautzinger, R. Tirawat, M. C Beard, D. P. Fenning, J. J. Berry, B. W. Larson, Y. Yan, K. Zhu, “Surface reaction for efficient and stable inverted perovskite solar cells.” Nature 611, 278-283 (2022)
• Z. Ni, H. Jiao, C. Fei, H. Gu, S. Xu, Z. Yu, G. Yang, Y. Deng, Q. Jiang, Y. Liu, Y. Yan, J. Huang, “Evolution of defects during the degradation of metal halide perovskite solar cells under reverse bias and illumination.” Nature Energy 7 (1), 65-73 (2022)
• Z. Song, C. Li, L. Chen, Y. Yan, “Perovskite Solar Cells Go Bifacial—Mutual Benefits for Efficiency and Durability.” Advanced Materials 34, 2106805 (2022)
• J. Xue, R. Wang, X. Chen, C. Yao, X. Jin, K.-L. Wang, W. Huang, T. Huang, Y. Zhao, Y. Zhai, D. Meng, S. Tan, R. Liu, Z.-K. Wang, C. Zhu, K. Zhu, M. C. Beard, Y. Yan, and Y. Yang, “Reconfiguring the band-edge states of photovoltaic perovskites by conjugated organic cations.” Science 371 (6529), 636-640 (2021)
• C. Li, Z. Song, C. Chen, C. Xiao, B. Subedi, S. P. Harvey, N. Shrestha, K. K. Subedi, L. Chen, D. Liu, Y. Li, Y.-W Kim, C.-S. Jiang, M. J. Heben, D. Zhao, R. J. Ellingson, N. J. Podraza, M. Al-Jassim, Y. Yan, “ Low-bandgap mixed tin–lead iodide perovskites with reduced methylammonium for simultaneous enhancement of solar cell efficiency and stability.” Nature Energy 5, 768-776 (2020)
• Q. Wang, X. Wang, Z. Yang, N. Zhou, Y. Deng, J. Zhao, X. Xiao, P. Rudd, A. Moran, Y. Yan, J. Huang, “Efficient sky-blue perovskite light-emitting diodes via photoluminescence enhancement.” Nature Communications 10, 1-8 (2019)
• J. Tong, Z. Song, D. H. Kim, X. Chen, C. Chen, A. F. Palmstrom, P. F. Ndione, M. O. Reese, S. P. Dunfield, O. G. Reid, J. Liu, F. Zhang, S. P. Harvey, Z. Li, S. T. Christensen, G. Teeter, D. Zhao, M. M. Al-Jassim, M. F. A. M. van Hest, M. C. Beard, S. E. Shaheen, J. J. Berry, Y. Yan, and K. Zhu, “Carrier lifetimes of> 1 μs in Sn-Pb perovskites enable efficient all-perovskite tandem solar cells.” Science 364, 475-479 (2019)