Price Winner Marco Mercurio Furchi'

Furchi' is a doctoral candidate in the group led by Professor Thomas Müller at the Photonics Institute at TU Wien and carries out research into two-dimensional materials. The most well-known of these is graphene. This is a single – just one atom thick – layer of carbon particles which are arranged in a crystalline, hexagonal lattice. Two-dimensional materials exhibit new and innovative properties and are ideal for use in opto-electronics. One aspect of his dissertation was the use of such materials as the building blocks of solar cells. Its low weight, low cost of manufacture, high flexibility, low absorption of a single layer and its good environmental stability are likely the most important material parameters that will pave the way for a new generation of solar cells.

Furchi' will use the prize money of EUR 4.000,00 for his 6-month research trip to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "The Lions research award will allow me to fully concentrate on my research in Boston. The results of the planned experiments, which I will carry out at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, could lead to a deeper understanding of the optical and electrical properties of two-dimensional heterostructures," says Furchi'.

Watch a short interview with M. Furchi' on the TU Wien's YouTube channel, opens an external URL in a new window.