EEE Department Undergraduate Student Group Publishes Original Research Paper in a Highly Ranked International Peer-Reviewed Journal from their Final Year Design Project Research

A team of undergraduate students from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), School of Science, Engineering and Technology (SETS) has published an original research paper titled “Effects of “defective” plasmonic metal nanoparticle arrays on the opto-electronic performance of thin-film solar cells: computational study” in a highly ranked international peer-reviewed journal on the 12th of April 2023 from research conducted in their Final Year Design Project. The article was published in Applied Optics, a journal published by Optica (formerly known as Optical Society of America). It is a highly impactful peer-reviewed journal that publishes research articles covering areas in optical technology, photonics, lasers, information processing, sensing, and environmental optics. This article was drafted by two final year undergraduate (B.Sc.) student members, Abrar Jawad Haque and Tawseef Ahmed Khan along with two co-authors, Asif Al Suny and Rifat Bin Sultan (3rd Year students in the Department of EEE), under the direct supervision of Dr. Mustafa Habib Chowdhury, Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), IUB and the Director of IUB Photonics Simulation Laboratory (IUBPSL). In this paper, the team performed a large set of computational studies to investigate the effects of common defects that occur while fabricating arrays of plasmonic metal nanoparticles (NPs) on the absorbing layer of solar cells to improve optical and electronic performance of plasmonic thin film solar cells. After detailed research work and simulations, the results indicate the promising potential of using relatively inexpensive techniques to fabricate “defective” plasmonic NP arrays on solar cells. The conclusions of this study can crucially aid manufacturers to enhance the performance of solar cells leading to widespread utilization of solar energy and will be of great interest to the scientific community working with solar cells, specially in the developing world where access to high tech nanofabrication equipment and other such facilities is very limited. This is a proud moment for the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the School of Science, Engineering and Technology (SETS), as this is the first time research conducted in an undergraduate Final Year Design Project has been published in a highly-ranked international peer-reviewed journal immediately after the completion of the project. This research was completely conceived, designed and executed at IUB without any external or international collaborations and was fully funded by the IUB Office of Sponsored Research (Grant Award No: 2021-SETS-08). Additionally, the two other co-authors of this article, Asif Al Suny and Rifat Bin Sultan, were undergraduate students of the EEE Department and completing their 3rd year of undergraduate degree coursework during the duration of the research study and paper drafting process. This is further proof that the EEE Department of IUB involves its students in high-quality research from a very early stage and is a testament to the unwavering commitment of the EEE Department and IUBPSL towards high-quality research and scientific excellence. The authors sincerely thank the IUB Office of Sponsored Research for funding this research. Congratulations to all the authors. Link of the article page: Optica