Background

I am a final year PhD student in the department of chemistry at the University of Warwick, researching organic solar cells with Professor Tim Jones.

From 2004 to 2008 I studied chemistry at the University of Warwick, receiving a first class masters (MChem) with Honours. In the same year I started my PhD in the Professor Tim Jones group, also in the department of chemistry at the University of Warwick. Funding was obtained from both Asylum Research UK and the EPSRC. I am scheduled to finish my PhD mid 2012.

My research has given me experience with solution processing techniques, organic molecular beam deposition (OMBD), solar cell testing with both a calibrated solar simulator and also external quantum efficiency measurements (EQE), in addition to many other analysis techniques. I also use and train group members with atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging, including conductive and kelvin probe AFM.

I have also managed several masters level students, attended courses in science communication, team building and intellectual property. In addition, I recently judged a postgraduate poster competition after reaching the regional stage in the previous year. I am now an ambassador of the Wolfson research exchange and have codeveloped the PhD Network.

PhD project

My PhD project focuses on methods to improve organic solar cells. Organic solar cells will offer a cheap, flexible and renewable source of electricity in the near future. The Tim Jones group is currently investigating several ways of both improving the overall performance and also the cell lifetime of organic solar cells. In my project I focus on two main areas, the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) to allow us to tune the properties of organic solar cells, and also the modification of the ITO electrode with metal oxide hole extracting layers. A slightly more in depth discussion of these topics can be found on my research tab to the left and in my publications section.

Ian Hancox

I dot M dot Hancox at warwick dot ac dot uk