Richard Lunt
Johansen Crosby Endowed Professor | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Richard is the inventor of over 25 U.S. patents, the majority of which have been licensed.
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Biography
Richard R. Lunt joined the faculty of Michigan State University in 2011 in the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Physics Departments. He earned his B.Ch.E. from the University of Delaware, graduating with honors for his work on phase equilibria in superconducting-related perovskites under Douglas J. Buttrey. He received his PhD in chemical engineering from Princeton University while working with Stephen Forrest at the University of Michigan (2006-2010) and Jay B. Benziger at Princeton. While building his lab at MSU he worked as a postdoctoral associate at MIT with Vladimir Bulović. He has won a number of awards for his innovative research and is the inventor of over 25 U.S. patents, the majority of which have been licensed. He is a co-founder of Ubiquitous Energy Inc., which is commercializing transparent solar cells that enable seamless deployment of light-harvesting functionality in the form of products and surfaces. He is also cofounder of GlowShop LLC, which is commercializing educational kits for solar energy.
Areas of Expertise (5)
Solar Cells
Green Energy
Solar Energy
See-Through Solar Technology
Chemical Engineering
Accomplishments (5)
Outstanding Faculty Award
2017 Awarded by the MSU Senior Class Council
Teacher Scholar Award
2016 MSU
Withrow Distinguished Junior Scholar Award
2016 MSU
Ovshinsky Sustainable Energy Fellowship Award
2015 American Physical Society
Top 35 Innovators Under 35 List
2015 Technology Review
Education (3)
MIT: Postdoctoral Research, Electrical and Electronics Engineering 2011
Princeton University: PhD, Chemical Engineering 2010
University of Delaware: BCHE, Chemical Engineering 2004
Links (4)
News (5)
Can solar technology kill cancer cells?
MSU Today online
2019-10-25
Scientific breakthroughs don’t always happen in labs. For Sophia and Richard Lunt, Michigan State University researchers, many of their breakthroughs happen during neighborhood walks.
35 Innovators Under 35
MIT Technology Review online
2019-08-17
Richard Lunt invented solar cells you can see through. They’re made of molecules that absorb ultraviolet and infrared light—wavelengths that we can’t see—and convert it into electricity while letting visible light through. Applied as a coating on the screen of a phone or smart watch, they generate power so the gadget lasts longer between charges. Some low-power devices with the coating, such as e–readers, might not need to be plugged in at all.
First transparent solar technology invented at Michigan State
Indiana Environmental Reporter online
2019-06-18
Researchers at Michigan State University have successfully created the first completely transparent solar panels. These panels, which were announced earlier this year, can collect solar energy without affecting the transference of light, which makes it possible to install them on surfaces that would otherwise be unsuitable for collecting green energy.
Skyscrapers could soon generate their own power, thanks to see-through solar cells
Science Magazine online
2018-06-28
This week in Joule, a team led by Richard Lunt, a chemical engineer from Michigan State University in East Lansing, reports that it tuned the materials to develop a UV-absorbing perovskite solar window with an efficiency of 0.5%. Although that's fathoms below the efficiency of the best perovskite cells, Lunt says it's high enough to power another window technology: on-demand darkening glass that halts intense light in the heat of the day, thereby reducing a building's need for air conditioning. Lunt believes his team has a clear path to get to efficiencies of 4% in the next few years. At that rate, the cells could power some of the building's lighting and air conditioning.
See-Through Solar Panels Will Put Untapped Energy to Work
NBC News online
2017-10-24
Led by Richard Lunt, the Johansen Crosby Endowed Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at MSU, the team created a transparent luminescent solar concentrator that could generate solar energy on any clear surface without affecting the view. In theory, it could be applied to cell phones, windows, buildings, and cars.
Journal Articles (5)
Epitaxial Stabilization of Tetragonal Cesium Tin Iodide
ACS2019 A full range of optoelectronic devices has been demonstrated incorporating hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskites including high-performance photovoltaics, light emitting diodes, and lasers. Tin-based inorganic halide perovskites, such as CsSnX3 (X = Cl, Br, I), have been studied as promising candidates that avoid toxic lead halide compositions.
Lead Halide Ultraviolet-Harvesting Transparent Photovoltaics with an Efficiency Exceeding 1%
ACS2019 Transparent photovoltaic (TPV) devices have a number of unique advantages compared with opaque photovoltaic devices. However, balancing efficiency and transparency has been difficult. To date, few TPV devices with PCE over 1% have been demonstrated when the average visible transmission (AVT) is over 70%.
Integration of near-infrared harvesting transparent luminescent solar concentrators onto arbitrary surfaces
Journal of Luminescence2019 Visibly transparent luminescent solar concentrators (TLSCs) can convert existing window glazing systems and non-window surfaces into solar energy harvesting resources, dramatically improving energy utilization efficiency. While there has been a significant interest in improving the power conversion efficiency, little attention has been focused on the challenges of integrating luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) onto non-window surfaces or windows with significant infrared absorption coefficients.
Understanding the impact of C60 at the interface of perovskite solar cells via drift-diffusion modeling
AIP Advances2019 Perovskite solar cells have recently seen rapid improvements in performance with certified efficiencies of above 23%. Fullerene compounds are a very popular electron-transfer material in these devices.
Room Temperature Processing of Inorganic Perovskite Films to Enable Flexible Solar Cells
iScience2018 Inorganic lead halide perovskite materials have attracted great attention recently due to their potential for greater thermal stability compared with hybrid organic perovskites.
