Tag Archives: Peyman Servati

Nanoelectronics at the University of British Columbia (UBC located in Vancouver, Canada)

Hidden in a Jan. 9, 2014 University of British Columbia (UBC) announcement abut funding from Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) was some information about a nano electronics laboratory,

  • Flexible, efficient solar-battery nano-textile, led by Peyman Servati, funded for $514,000.
  • Bio-inspired soft epidermal and wearable nanofiber electronics for wireless health monitoring, led by Peyman Servati, funded for $516,000. [emphases mine]

Peryman Servati leads FEEL, the flexible electronics and energy lab according to his faculty bio page. The two FEEL project s listed in the announcement have received a total of $1.3* (corrected to $1.03M, Jan. 30, 2014) in funding, over 1/3* (it’s closer to 1/4; corrected Jan. 30, 2014)  of the $4.3M earmarked* (spelling corrected Jan. 30, 2014) for nine UBC projects. Here’s more about the lab’s current roster of four ‘research areas’ from the Research Projects webpage,

1. Transparent Electrodes for Photovoltaic (PV) Devices:

Solar energy, as a clean and renewable resource, is heavily untapped, mainly due to the high cost (>$2 per watt) and low conversion efficiency (~20% for silicon) of today’s PV devices. This project aims at reducing the manufacturing cost of PV devices, by finding a scalable transparent electrode for replacing metal fingers or indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes of conventional devices. We deposit nanocomposite fibers (NFs) with embedded conductive nanotubes (NTs) and nanowires (NWs) using novel electrospinning process that provides multiscale ordering and alignment in the structure of the NF mesh, similar to veins of a leaf (below). The process is scalable to substrates including plastic, paper and fabric, in a roll-to-roll manufacturing system. Challenges for integration of the NF mesh with Si and thin-film PV panels are being investigated to achieve the required properties at low cost.

2. Nanowire (NW) Growth and Device Fabrication:

Semiconductor and metallic NWs have unique electrical and optical properties not present in the bulk. We grow different NWs with controlled morphology using chemical vapour deposition and other growth techniques. We also work on integration of these nanomaterials into large area electronic devices, including transistors, strain sensors, bio-sensors, photodetectors, and solar cells. Materials of interest include Si, Ge, ZnO, and GaAs.

3. Flexible Organic Solar Cells:

Organic semiconductors can be deposited at low temperature on a variety of substrates. We investigate the aging and annealing effects in these materials and how the morphology of these semiconductors and blends change with time. The goal is to improve efficiency and stability of these devices.

4. Modeling of Nanomaterials and Nanocomposites:

We investigate the electron transport and band structure of novel electronic materials such as nanowires, nanotubes and graphene using atomistic modeling and simulation. [emphasis mine] Our work points out the delicacy of the surface properties of silicon nanowires (NWs) (below) and the dependence of electronic properties on surface composition and reconstruction. In addition, we work on developing analytical models that connect properties of single nanostrucutres to the properties of materials and devices made by using a large number of these nanostrucutures.

My guess is that the two projects which have received money are being investigated via the lab’s four ‘research areas’.

I am glad to have found this nanoeletronics laboratory. Sadly, they’re not investigating the memristors which so fascinate me but I can now say with certainty that there’s at least one laboratory in Canada researching, the world’s currently trendiest nanomaterial, graphene.