Scott and ECU was recently chosen by the Environmental Protection Agency for a 2012-2013 P3 Award, a national student design competition for sustainability, focusing on people, prosperity and the planet.
This grant is the only one awarded to an individual and institution in the state of Oklahoma.
The EPA grant is called Making a Solid State Organic Photovoltaic Cell More Efficient and Economically Beneficial: The Relationship Between Dielectric Constant, Exciton Diffusion Length and Efficiency.
The study focuses on solar cells that are devices that convert solar energy into electricity but are not used in everyday lives as they have limitations due to cost, availability, stability and lack of efficiency.
Scott’s approach to studying this problem will use charged polymeric membranes to increase the dielectric constant of the solar cell with the goal of improving stability, lowering cost and increasing efficiency of solid state organic cells.
Scott and ECU students have been working on the project. Josh Smith, a senior from Ardmore; Cody Soden, a senior from Owasso; and Laura Blanco-Berdugo, of Colombia; along with Scott will present their work at the National Mall in Washington D.C. on April 19.
Details of this study can be found at http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/9851/
report/0.
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