Sung‐Yeon Jang
Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology · 工学
研究室紹介
Professor Sung-Yeon Jang's research lab specializes in advanced materials for energy conversion and sustainable technologies, with a strong focus on molecular electronics, thermoelectric materials, and next-generation optoelectronic devices. The lab explores fundamental charge transport phenomena at the molecular junction level, develops solution-processed functional materials for solar cells—particularly perovskite and dye-sensitized solar cells—and pioneers innovative ionic and self-healing thermoelectric materials. Key research directions include interface engineering in hybrid heterojunctions, low-temperature and annealing-free processing of metal oxide layers, and the design of multifunctional molecular monolayers for enhanced device performance.
Research Overview
Research Output Trend
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Selected Papers
15By trapping molecules between two gold electrodes with a temperature difference across them, the junction Seebeck coefficients of 1,4-benzenedithiol (BDT), 4,4'-dibenzenedithiol, and 4,4''-tribenzenedithiol in contact with gold were measured at room temperature to be +8.7 +/- 2.1 microvolts per kelvin (muV/K), +12.9 +/- 2.2 muV/K, and +14.2 +/- 3.2 muV/K, respectively (where the error is the full width half maximum of the statistical distributions). The positive sign unambiguously indicates p-ty
Water-soluble, polyelectrolyte-grafted multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), MWCNT-g-PSSNa, were synthesized using a "grafting to" route. MWCNT-g-PSSNa thin films fabricated by an electrostatic spray (e-spray) technique were used as the counter electrode (CE) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The e-sprayed MWCNT-g-PSSNa thin-film-based CEs (MWCNT-CE) were uniform over a large area, and the well-exfoliated MWCNTs formed highly interconnected network structures. The electrochemical catalyti
Abstract Herein, this study reports high‐efficiency, low‐temperature ZnO based planar perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with state‐of‐the‐art performance. They are achieved via a strategy that combines dual‐functional self‐assembled monolayer (SAM) modification of ZnO electron accepting layers (EALs) with sequential deposition of perovskite active layers. The SAMs, constructed from newly synthesized molecules with high dipole moments, act both as excellent surface wetting control layers and as elect
We report intrinsically self-healable and stretchable ionic thermoelectric materials, which exhibits excellent ionic figure-of-merit (1.04), with remarkable stretchability (~750%) and autonomous self-healability.
We present a combined experimental and computational study that probes the thermoelectric and electrical transport properties of molecular junctions. Experiments were performed on junctions created by trapping aromatic molecules between gold electrodes. The end groups (-SH, -NC) of the aromatic molecules were systematically varied to study the effect of contact coupling strength and contact chemistry. When the coupling of the molecule with one of the electrodes was reduced by switching the termi
Abstract A charge transport layer based on transition metal‐oxides prepared by an anhydrous sol–gel method normally requires high‐temperature annealing to achieve the desired quality. Although annealing is not a difficult process in the laboratory, it is definitely not a simple process in mass production, such as roll‐to‐roll, because of the inevitable long cooling step that follows. Therefore, the development of an annealing‐free solution‐processable metal‐oxide is essential for the large‐scale
Abstract Polymer solar cells (PSCs) are fabricated using a novel film deposition method, the electrostatic spray (e‐spray) technique. Stable atomization and uniform deposition of the polymer blend by e‐spray are achieved by manipulating the solution concentration, the solvent composition, and the electric field. The performance of PSCs is primarily influenced by the inherent film morphology of the e‐sprayed polymer‐blend active layers, which is significantly different from that of the convention
Colloidal-quantum-dot (CQD) photovoltaic devices are promising candidates for low-cost power sources owing to their low-temperature solution processability and bandgap tunability. A power conversion efficiency (PCE) of >10% is achieved for these devices; however, there are several remaining obstacles to their commercialization, including their high energy loss due to surface trap states and the complexity of the multiple-step CQD-layer-deposition process. Herein, high-efficiency photovoltaic dev
The electrical conductance of a series of thiol-terminated alkanes, (1,6-hexanedithiol (HDT), 1,8-octanedithiol (ODT), and 1,10-decanedithol (DDT)) was measured using a modified scanning tunneling microscope break junction technique. The interpretation of data obtained in this technique is complicated due to multiple effects such as microscopic details of the metal-molecule junctions, superposition of tunneling currents, and conformational changes in the molecules. A new method called the last-s
High-efficiency colloidal quantum dot photovoltaic devices (CQDPVs) are achieved by improving the interfacial charge extraction via chemical modification of PbS-CQD/ZnO heterojunctions. Simple treatment of the heterojunctions using a chemical modifier, 1,2-ethanedithiol, effectively reduces the interband trap sites of the ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO-np) by passivation of the notorious intrinsic oxygen-deficient defects. As a result, the interfacial bimolecular recombinations between (i) trapped elect
While perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as promising low-cost solar power generators, most reported high-performance PSCs employ electron transport layers (ETLs, mainly TiO2) treated at high temperatures (≥450 °C), which may eventually hinder the development of flexible PSCs. Meanwhile, the development of low-temperature processed PSCs (L-PSCs) possessing performance levels comparable to those of high-temperature processed PSCs has actively been reported. In this study, L-PSCs with impr
High-performance solution-processable ZnO thin films for use as electron-transporting layers (ETLs) of inverted-structured polymer solar cells (I-PSCs) are developed via a low-temperature annealing (<200 °C) sol–gel process. The properties of the low-temperature-annealed ZnO (L-ZnO) thin films (used as ETLs) are optimized based on the evaluation of the roles of the internal nanocrystal (NC) orientation and film-surface morphology in charge transport/transfer in I-PSCs. The low-temperature anneal