You are cordially invited to attend the seminar organized by the Department of Chemistry.
Title: Molecular Design of Functional Materials for Advanced Optoelectronic and Energy Conversion Devices
Speaker: Dr. Shahid Ameen
Date: 30/09/2025, Tuesday
Time: 12:30 (Turkiye Time)
This is an online seminar. To request event details please send a message to department.
Molecular Design of Functional Materials for Advanced Optoelectronic and Energy Conversion Devices
My research focuses on the design and synthesis of functional materials for next-generation optoelectronic and energy conversion technologies. This presentation highlights a decade of my research in the molecular design and synthesis of functional materials tailored for next-generation optoelectronic and energy conversion technologies. Emphasis will be placed on innovations that enhance the performance, stability, and sustainability of devices, including organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), perovskite LEDs (PeLEDs), and perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In the OLED domain, the presentation will cover the development of solution-processable carbazole-based host materials and thermally cross-linkable hole-transport layers materials (HTMs), which have significantly improved device efficiency and operational stability. We have developed eco-friendly, solvent-processable Ir(III) complexes and HTMs achieving external quantum efficiencies exceeding 22%. Additionally, novel photopatterning techniques applied to our cross-linkable emitters have enabled precise fabrication of RGB OLED emissive layers, advancing scalable manufacturing. Recent advancements in perovskite materials and device architectures have notably improved the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). These p-i-n structured devices offer advantages like low-temperature processing, flexibility, and tandem compatibility, now surpassing conventional PSCs in performance. A key challenge remains interfacial nonradiative recombination. Carbazole-based self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) have emerged as effective hole-selective layers (HSLs), suppressing nonradiative recombination via minimizing defects and enhancing charge transport. Integration of our HSL materials has enabled PSCs to achieve PCEs exceeding 25%, while tandem architectures incorporating our HSLs have reached open-circuit voltages (VOC) of 2.2 V. These contributions reflect a multidisciplinary approach that combines synthetic chemistry, device engineering, and nanofabrication to tackle key challenges in energy-efficient and sustainable technologies. The presentation will conclude with future research directions in materials development for RGB display technologies and energy harvesting applications.
Short Biography:
Dr. Shahid Ameen is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Republic of Korea. He got an MSc in Chemistry from the University of the Punjab and an MPhil in Organic Chemistry from Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan. He earned his Ph.D. in Nanomaterials Science and Engineering from the University of Science and Technology (UST), South Korea, where he focused on charge-transport and host materials for solution-processed OLEDs. Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Ameen pursued postdoctoral research under Dr. Changjin Lee at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), developing photoinitiators for industrial applications in liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturing. He later joined Korea University as a Research Professor, where he investigated novel hole-transport materials for PSCs and gained hands-on experience in device fabrication and characterization. Since joining UNIST in May 2021, Dr. Ameen has led interdisciplinary research in the molecular design and synthesis of advanced functional materials for optoelectronic and energy conversion technologies. His work spans OLEDs, quantum dot LEDs (QLEDs), perovskite LEDs (PeLEDs), organic photovoltaics (OPVs), PSCs, and triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). He currently also serves as PI of a National Research Foundation of Korea-funded project focused on developing narrowband blue-emitting Pt(II) complexes for highly efficient and stable blue phosphorescent OLEDs.