Publications related to Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry

Computational Studies on the Stability of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Halide Lead Perovskites

Perovskite-based solar cells are currently the most rapidly advancing photovoltaic technology but concerns about their long-term stability are still impeding full-scale commercialization. This thesis provides computational insights into some of the stabili ...

EPFL2024

Encoding quantum-chemical knowledge into machine-learning models of complex molecular properties

Ksenia Briling

Statistical (machine-learning, ML) models are more and more often used in computational chemistry as a substitute to more expensive ab initio and parametrizable methods. While the ML algorithms are capable of learning physical laws implicitly from data, ad ...

EPFL2024

Structure and dynamics of liquid water from ab initio simulations: adding Minnesota density functionals to Jacob's ladder

Ursula Röthlisberger, Justin Villard, Martin Peter Bircher

The accurate representation of the structural and dynamical properties of water is essential for simulating the unique behavior of this ubiquitous solvent. Here we assess the current status of describing liquid water using ab initio molecular dynamics, wit ...

Royal Soc Chemistry2024

From Sequence to Dynamics to Function: Computational Design of Allostery and Ligand Selectivity in G-Protein Coupled Receptors

Mahdi Hijazi

The phenomenon of allostery, a general property in proteins that has been heralded as "the second secret of life" remains elusive to our understanding and even more challenging to incorporate into protein design. One example of allosteric proteins with gre ...

EPFL2024

Oxidative Defect Detection Within Free and Packed DNA Systems: A Quantum Mechanical/Molecular Mechanics (QM/ MM) Approach

Ursula Röthlisberger

Base excision repair enzymes (BERs) detect and repair oxidative DNA damage with efficacy despite the small size of the defects and their often only minor structural impact. A charge transfer (CT) model for rapid scanning of DNA stretches has been evoked to ...

Swiss Chemical Soc2024

Efficient and insightful descriptors for representing molecular and material space

Alexander Jan Goscinski

Data-driven approaches have been applied to reduce the cost of accurate computational studies on materials, by using only a small number of expensive reference electronic structure calculations for a representative subset of the materials space, and using ...

EPFL2024

Interfacial engineering through lead binding using crown ethers in perovskite solar cells

Kevin Sivula, Jun Ho Yum, Jovana Milic, Yeonju Kim, Jiyoun Seo

In the domain of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the imperative to reconcile impressive photovoltaic performance with lead-related issue and environmental stability has driven innovative solutions. This study pioneers an approach that not only rectifies lea ...

Elsevier2024

Elimination of buried interfacial voids for efficient perovskite solar cells

Bin Ding, Xianfu Zhang, Bo Chen, Yan Liu

Establishing optimal interfacial contact is crucial for enhancing the efficiency of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, formation of voids at buried interface of perovskite films often hinders this critical objective. Our investigation reveals that the ...

Elsevier2024

Structural divergence of molecular hole selective materials for viable p-i-n perovskite photovoltaics: a comprehensive review

Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin, Peng Gao, Paramaguru Ganesan

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have garnered significant attention within the photovoltaic research community due to their remarkable progress in just one decade. Among the device configurations, the p-i-n structured PSC offers several advantages, including ...

Royal Society of Chemistry2024

Axial-Equatorial Halide Ordering in Layered Hybrid Perovskites from Isotropic-Anisotropic 207Pb NMR

David Lyndon Emsley, Ümmügülsüm Günes, Michael Allan Hope, Manuel Cordova, Aditya Mishra

Bandgap-tuneable mixed-halide 3D perovskites are of interest for multi-junction solar cells, but suffer from photoinduced spatial halide segregation. Mixed-halide 2D perovskites are more resistant to halide segregation and are promising coatings for 3D per ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2024

Plasmonically enhanced molecular junctions for investigation of atomic-scale fluctuations in self-assembled monolayers

Sakthi Priya Amirtharaj

Molecular junctions represent a fascinating frontier in the realm of nanotechnology and are one of the smallest optoelectronic devices possible, consisting of individual molecules or a group of molecules that serve as the active element sandwiched between ...

EPFL2024

Durable Perovskite Solar Cells with 24.5% Average Efficiency: The Role of Rigid Conjugated Core in Molecular Semiconductors

Michael Graetzel, Shaik Mohammed Zakeeruddin, Felix Thomas Eickemeyer, Peng Wang, Ming Ren

Efficient and robust n-i-p perovskite solar cells necessitate superior organic hole-transport materials with both mechanical and electronic prowess. Deciphering the structure-property relationship of these materials is crucial for practical perovskite sola ...

Wiley-V C H Verlag Gmbh2024

Supramolecular interactions using β-cyclodextrin in controlling perovskite solar cell performance

Kevin Sivula, Jun Ho Yum, Parnian Ferdowsi, Jiyoun Seo

In the context of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), enhancing device performance often involves adding a small excess of lead iodide (PbI2) to the precursor solution. However, the presence of unreacted PbI2 can lead to accelerated degradation compromising lon ...

Royal Society of Chemistry2024

Exciton migration in two-dimensional materials

Excitons play an essential role in the optical response of two-dimensional materials. These are bound states showing up in the band gaps of many-body systems and are conceived as quasiparticles formed by an electron and a hole. By performing real-time simu ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Ru(II)-Arene Complexes of Curcumin and Bisdesmethoxycurcumin Metabolites

Paul Joseph Dyson, Farzaneh Fadaei Tirani, Mouna Hadiji

Curcuminoids and their complexes continue to attract attention in medicinal chemistry, but little attention has been given to their metabolic derivatives. Here, the first examples of (arene)Ru(II) complexes with curcuminoid metabolites, tetrahydrocurcumin ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Magnetism of Single Surface Adsorbed Atoms Studied with Radio-Frequency STM

Clément Marie Soulard

This thesis investigates the magnetic properties of single atoms and molecules adsorbed on thin magnesium oxide decoupling layers, grown on a silver single crystal. To address these systems experimentally, we use a low temperature scanning tunneling micros ...

EPFL2024

Investigating Non-equilibrium Physics in Wide Bandgap Semiconductors and Quantum Materials via Ultrafast Spectroscopy

Hui-Yuan Chen

This thesis uses femtosecond laser spectroscopy in studying strong correlation in condensed matters that are pertinent to future technology: a wide bandgap perovskite and a quantum material, with the employment of ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy in th ...

EPFL2024

Tracking deep-level defects in degrading perovskite solar cells with a multifactorial approach

Vivek Subramanian

In this work, we provide a mechanistic understanding of the degradation of perovskite solar cells in operation by focusing on methylammonium lead triiodide (CH3NH3PbI3 or MAPbI3) and tracking the evolution of electronic defects via photo-induced current tr ...

Elsevier2024

Machine Learning for Screening Small Molecules as Passivation Materials for Enhanced Perovskite Solar Cells

Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin, Bin Ding, Xianfu Zhang, Bo Chen, Chaohui Li, Yan Liu

Utilization of small molecules as passivation materials for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has gained significant attention recently, with hundreds of small molecules demonstrating passivation effects. In this study, a high-accuracy machine learning model i ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag Gmbh2024

Automated all-functionals infrared and Raman spectra

Nicola Marzari, Lorenzo Bastonero

Infrared and Raman spectroscopies are ubiquitous techniques employed in many experimental laboratories, thanks to their fast and non-destructive nature able to capture materials' features as spectroscopic fingerprints. Nevertheless, these measurements freq ...

Nature Portfolio2024