Last November 24th was the first day I got into the BUAP Science Institute (ICUAP). Then, we took photographs in front of the Research Semiconductor Devices building to remember this moment. In the main picture of this post, you can observe Dr. Roman Romano, who is the principal researcher (PI), and me.
My postdoctoral project is scheduled from October 2021 to September 2022. Now, I am building thin-film solar cell prototypes made of antimony chalcogenide as the main absorber layer. This project is funded by the Conacyt postdoctoral fellowship to impulse the Mexican PhDs in their early days of an academic career.
Who is Dr. Roman Romano?
He is a young researcher working at the Science Institute of BUAP (Puebla, Mexico), developing semiconductor materials for conversion energy. The first time I met Dr. Roman Romano was during his postdoctoral project at IER-UNAM (2013). He was the first person to develop sputtering targets for the deposition of metal oxides. After finishing his postdoc, he was able to get back to BUAP. Now, the hard work is paying him off because he has gained a space for his laboratory where we will be developing the solar cell prototypes.
I choose to work with Dr. Roman Romano because we share the same vision about developing solar cells. Both of us have the knowledge and experience of thin-film semiconductors. Then after working on the postdoc application last September of 2021, we got the project approval then I became his first postdoctoral researcher.
The Science Institute (ICUAP)
The Science Institute (ICUAP) is located at CU-BUAP (14 Sur y Avenida San Claudio, Puebla, México). In this Institute, there is a department developing semiconductor materials. The mission of ICUAP is to build the scientific and technological knowledge of the community and push forward human capital formation related to science. In this place, you can continue your study to have a master’s or a Ph.D. degree related to social and exact sciences.
Suppose you are thinking of doing experimental science about developing solar cells. In that case, this is a great place to start because they have the required infrastructure to synthesize and characterize semiconductors. And now, we will be working on fabricating solar cells prototypes (lab scale). If you are interested in doing your thesis on renewable energies, contact us or comment below to begin a conversation with you.
First step: Setting up the laboratory
Due to the Covid-19 lockdown, I could not get into the laboratory since the 1st day of October because the university keeps strict rules for protecting the community. On the other hand, there is a big reason to keep the university close which was to make general maintenance to the installations. In the following picture, you can see me outside of the ICUAP laboratories. Fortunately, the maintenance had finished, and we were able to get into the laboratory.
The university maintenance has given us the opportunity of remodeling Dr. Roman Romano’s lab, including cleaning all the equipment for the semiconductor deposition. Let me tell you a secret about our work. A big issue for developing semiconductors is the dust particles located inside the room because they could generate shunts in our pn-heterojunctions, causing degradation of the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of the solar cells. That is the big reason why we should keep clean the lab room.
Another benefit from this moment has been making a new inventory of the salts and chemical instruments. Here, I realize we have all the chemicals for developing thin films by chemical deposition. In the following picture, you will see a probe of the reactive salts we will be using to develop metal chalcogenides.
Do you want to visit the new lab?
If you, as a student, have the curiosity for working on the development of solar cell prototypes, you have to call us. Here we are pushing forward the Renewable Energies from the research area. With us, you will be able to understand the physics of solar cells, and if you get into a master’s program, you will have the opportunity to do science with us. Our dream is to show the international scientific community that we can develop photovoltaic technology with novel materials like antimony chalcogenides: Sb2S3, Sb2Se3, AgSbS2, AgSbSe2.
Contact us
Principal Investigator (PI):
- Dr. Roman Romano Trujillo – URL– roman.romano@correo.buap.mx
- Science Institute – BUAP
- Research field: Desarrollo de semiconductores para celdas solares
Postdoctoral Researcher :
- Dr. Jesús Capistrán Martínez – URL – jecam@ier.unam.mx
- Science Institute – BUAP (2021-2022)
- Research field: Investigación y desarrollo de celdas solares de película delgada.
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