Background

I completed my bachelor in physics at the University of Bologna (Italy) and obtained a master degree in experimental physics at the University of Trento (Italy) with a thesis on ageing process in glass forming materials via dynamic light scattering and correlation functions.

I'm currently pursuing a PhD in physics at the University of Warwick on ultrafast spectroscopy og metal halide perovskties and I am an IAS early career fellow.

Current research

In my current research I'm studying the terahertz photoconductivity of Sn and Pb based perovskites for photovoltaics. In detail I'm using a combination of (wavelength-tunable) Optical-pump Terahertz-Probe spectroscopy (OPTP) and Transient Absorption spectroscopy (TA) to study the hot carrier dynamic on an ultrafast time scale. When a photon of energy higher than the band gap creates and electron-hole couple, the energy that can be converted is the energy equivalent to the band gap, the difference is lost through heating. This mechanism is (one of) the major limiting factor in solar power conversion, and the possibility of harvesting hot carriers would increase the theoretical efficiency of a solar cell dramatically. Unexpectedly, this process seems to take quite a long time in halide perovskite semiconductos [1], up to the point it allows long range transport [2]. Therefore it is of great importance, both from the foundamental and from the applicative point of view, to understand the mechanism(s) behind this process.

TA allows the carrier temperature to be extracted , while the rise time of the photoconductivity, measured by the OPTP, can be used to directly measure the passage from a state with low mobitlity (high in the bandstructure) to a state with high mobility (Γ point). This research will provide important contribution to establish design rules for perovskite solar cells.

[1]Y. Yang, et al. Nature Photonics, 10, 53-59, 2016

[2]Z. Guo, et al., Science, 365, 59-62, 2017

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Publications

I. Jayawardena, R.M.I. Bandara, M. Monti, E. Butler-Caddle, T. Pichler, H. Shiozawa, Z. Wang, S. J.Hinder, M. G. Masteghin, M. Patel, H. M. Thirimanne, W. Zhang, R. A. Sporea, J. Lloyd-Hughes, S. R. P. Silva, Approaching the Shockley-Queisser limit for fill factors in lead-tin mixed perovskite photovoltaics, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2020, 8, pp. 693-705.

M Monti, JM Woolley, E Butler-Caddle, M Staniforth, A Wijesekara, RMI Bandara, I Jayawardena, SRP Silva, RA Hatton, J Lloyd-Hughes, Rapid hot carrier relaxation and mobility increase in Sn- and Pb-containing halide perovskite semiconductors, in 2019 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe and European Quantum Electronics Conference, paper jsiii_1_2, June 2019

M.G. Burdanova, A. P. Tsapenko, R. Kashtiban, J. Sloan, C. D. W. Mosley, M. Monti, M. Staniforth, Y. G. Gladush, A. G. Nasibulin and J. Lloyd-Hughes, Giant negative photoconductivity in controllably-doped carbon nanotube networks, ACS Photonics, 2019, 6(4), pp 1058-1066.

M. Monti, J. M. Woolley, M. Staniforth, A. Wijesekara, S. X. Tao, R. M. I. Bandara, I. Jayawardena, A. Crocker, E. Griffin, S. R. P. Silva, R. A. Hatton and J. Lloyd-Hughes, Efficient Intraband Hot Carrier Relaxation in Sn and Pb Pervoskte Semiconductors mediated by Strong Electron-phonon Coupling, Proc. SPIE, 10916, pp. 109160M, February 2019.

M. Monti, S. X. Tao, M. Staniforth, A. Crocker, E. Griffin, A. Wijesekara, R. Hatton and J. Lloyd-Hughes, Efficient Intraband Hot Carrier Relaxation in the Perovskite Semiconductor Cs_1–xRb_xSnI₃ Mediated by Strong Electron–Phonon Coupling, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2018, 122(36), pp 20669-20675.

Conference Talks

Influence of lead and tin concentration on hot carrier cooling in mixed lead-tin perovskite semiconductors, M. Monti*, E. Butler-Caddle, I. Jayawardena, M. Staniforth, R.M.I. Bandara, S. R. P. Silva and J. Lloyd-Hughes, 5th Conference on Perovskite Solar Cells and Optoelectronics (PSCO), Lausanne (SWI), September 2019

Probing Hot carrier relaxation in Sn and Pb Containing Halide Perovskite Semiconductors, M. Monti*, J. A. Woolley, M. Staniforth, A. Wijesekara, S. X. Tao, R.M.I. Bandara, I. Jayawardena, A. Crocker, E. Griffin, S. R. P. Silva, R. A. Hatton and J. Lloyd-Hughes, Condensed Matter and Quantum Materials Conference (CMQM) 2019, St. Andrews (UK), July 2019

Rapid Hot carrier relaxation and Mobility Increase in Sn and Pb Containing Halide Perovskite Semiconductors, M. Monti*, J. A. Woolley, M. Staniforth, A. Wijesekara, S. X. Tao, R.M.I. Bandara, I. Jayawardena, A. Crocker, E. Griffin, S. R. P. Silva, R. A. Hatton and J. Lloyd-Hughes, CLEO/Europe-EQEC 2019, Munich (GER), June 2019

Efficient Intraband Hot Carrier Relaxation in Sn and Pb Perovskite Semiconductors Mediated by Strong Electron-phonon Coupling, M. Monti*, J. A. Woolley, M. Staniforth, A. Wijesekara, S. X. Tao, R.M.I. Bandara, I. Jayawardena, A. Crocker, E. Griffin, S. R. P. Silva, R. A. Hatton and J. Lloyd-Hughes, SPIE Photonics West, Ultrafast Phenomena and Nanophotonics XXIII, San Francisco (USA), February 2019

Contact details:

Email: M.Monti@warwick.ac.uk

Office: MAS 3.09

Address: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK.