Hoboken College Professor Making Cheap, Portable Solar Panels

HOBOKEN, NJ — Harvesting the sun’s immense power as an energy source may be the wave of the future, but there’s long been an obstacle blocking the way: cost. Now, an assistant professor in Hoboken is trying to overcome that hurdle with the help of a five-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Earlier this month, the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken announced that assistant professor Stephanie Lee earned a 2019 CAREER Award from the NSF that will fund her quest to engineer light, flexible solar panels that don’t break the bank to make.

Here’s what Lee’s has been working on, according to Stevens Institute:

“Lee was granted the award for her work in alternative materials to harvest sunlight compared to traditional silicon solar panels that are typically heavy, brittle and expensive to manufacture. Lee and her team are reimagining the materials and processes used to build light and portable solar panels, while also trying to improve their energy conversion rate through crystal engineering. Lee and students in the LEE Lab are using carbon-based molecules that convert photons that travel from the sun to electricity. These molecules can then be spread across a thin plastic film to create flexible panels that can be rolled up and easily installed on any surface of a home, from roofs to windows. This method also allows panels to be created quickly and effectively, significantly lowering the costs associated with production.”

“It is my mission to develop technologies that will generate electricity to meet the growing energy demand without having a negative impact on our environment,” Lee said. “This recognition from the NSF brings me that much closer to achieving this goal and I am extremely fortunate to receive the funding that will help my team make substantial developments in this space.”

In addition to Lee, other Stevens faculty members have received the highly competitive CAREER Awards for their innovative research. Previous recipients include computer science professor Samantha Kleinberg, electrical and computer engineering professor Negar Tavassolian and mechanical engineering professors Frank Fisher, Brendan Englot and Robert Chang.

• See related article: Hoboken College Students Building World's Cheapest Space Rocket

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Hoboken Facebook page here. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Main Photo: Xiaoqing Kong fabricates solar cells (Stevens Institute of Technology)