Dr Yongtao Qu

Associate Professor

Department: Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering

Dr Yongtao Qu is an Associate Professor in Physics with his research interest in developing light absorbing layers and structures for the generation of clean and renewable electricity. Dr Qu has published one book chapter and 30+ research articles, including several world-leading journals such as Progress in Photovoltaics (ranked 6/126 in Energy & Fuels category) and Composites Part A (3/34 in Materials Science & Composite category). Yongtao led a British Council-Newton Fund Institutional Links to develop ultralight absorber using photonic lift-off technology for remote energy harvesting research programme (£247k, 2021-2023), and hosted The Royal Society-Newton International Fellowship on lightweight PVs for IoT applications (£135k, 2023-2025). Working closely with 16 partners across the UK and Europe, he has recently been successful in securing a Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks 2023 - Optical and wireless sensors networks for 6G scenarios (OWIN6G, €2.67M). Dr Qu has been invited to give 10+ talks at significant conferences/leading institutions, organised/chaired 5+ international events, reviewed paper publications for 10+ journals and served as an Associate Editor in Frontiers in Chemistry.

Dr Qu is directly contributing as the Centre Manager to the running of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Renewable Energy Northeast Universities (ReNU). He was instrumental in helping ReNU to achieve accreditation in 2022 from both the Institute of Physics (IOP) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and led a series of training and workshops to help ReNU PhD students to secure the Registered Scientist (RSci) status as a mark of excellence in personal and professional integrity.

Du Qu is actively involved in the physics and electrical engineering programmes within the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering. The work includes being Module Tutor for Advanced Photovoltaics, teaching Semiconductor Physics and supervising both undergraduate and postgraduate project students. This commitment was recognised in 2021 when he was awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, following the assessment of my Post-Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) programme which received "Distinction" status.

Links

Renewable Energy Northeast Universities

Northumbria Photovoltaic Group

Campus Address

E411 block
Ellison Building

Email Yongtao

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Dr Qu is expertized in the development, fabrication, characterisation, thin film PV devices from printable nanoparticle inks, which provides added benefit to high volume and high value manufacturing to develop a reliable and transferable technology in light weight Earth abundant solar cells. His current research interest is to explore and understand the interfaces between the materials within the solar cells over a full range of length scales (atom to device), from the investigation of atomic ordering in the absorber to the improvement of PV devices via reduced back contact barrier using alternative nanoparticle fabrication strategy. He also has wide research interests in green energy materials, including fullerene C₆₀ carbon materials, insulation/flame-retardant materials and CO₂ adsorption/storage materials.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
A comparison of ZnO nanowires grown using hexamethylenetetramine and ammonium hydroxide on Al:ZnO nanoparticle seed layer, Matheson, E., Qu, Y., Kartopu, G., Etherington, M., Zoppi, G., Barrioz, V., Beattie, N. 26 Jul 2023, In: Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics
A structural, optical and electrical comparison between physical vapour deposition and slot-die deposition of Al:ZnO (AZO), Matheson, E., Xu, X., Qu, Y., Zoppi, G., Barrioz, V., Beattie, N. 1 Jun 2023, In: MRS Advances
Enhanced carrier collection in Cd/In-based dual buffers in kesterite thin film solar cells from nanoparticle inks, Campbell, S., Zoppi, G., Bowen, L., Maiello, P., Barrioz, V., Beattie, N., Qu, Y. 13 Nov 2023, In: ACS Applied Energy Materials
Microwave Absorption Performance of Nitrile Butadiene Rubber/Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Rubber Filled with Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes, Kang, L., Qu, J., Liu, Y., Zhang, B., Qu, Y. 30 Oct 2023, In: Journal of Applied Polymer Science
Thermal storage performance of latent heat thermal energy storage device with helical fin under realistic working conditions, Zhang, N., Cao, X., Fan, X., Chen, L., Qu, Y. 22 Sep 2023, In: Applied Thermal Engineering
Editorial: Functional materials with charge transfer properties and their application in photoelectric devices, Zheng, M., Gatti, T., Liu, Y., Qu, Y. 23 Nov 2022, In: Frontiers in Chemistry
Ex-situ Ge-doping of CZTS Nanocrystals and CZTSSe Solar Absorber Films, Naylor, M., Tiwari, D., Sheppard, A., Laverock, J., Campbell, S., Ford, B., Xu, X., Jones, M., Qu, Y., Maiello, P., Barrioz, V., Beattie, N., Fox, N., Fermin, D., Zoppi, G. 1 Oct 2022, In: Faraday Discussions
Modelling interfaces in thin-film photovoltaic devices, Jones, M., Dawson, J., Campbell, S., Barrioz, V., Whalley, L., Qu, Y. 21 Jun 2022, In: Frontiers in Chemistry
Preparation and thermal properties analysis of fatty acids/1-hexadecanol binary eutectic phase change materials reinforced with TiO2 particles, Zhang, R., Chen, D., Chen, L., Cao, X., Liu, X., Qu, Y. 1 Jul 2022, In: Journal of Energy Storage
Recovery mechanisms in aged kesterite solar cells, Campbell, S., Duchamp, M., Ford, B., Jones, M., Nguyen, L., Naylor, M., Xu, X., Maiello, P., Zoppi, G., Barrioz, V., Beattie, N., Qu, Y. 23 May 2022, In: ACS Applied Energy Materials

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Oral presentation: Fabrication of Novel 3D Structured Electrode for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Generation Applications using Additive Manufacturing 2023

PGR Supervision

Michael Jones Back contact engineering for high performance kesterite solar cells Start Date: 01/10/2020

Qualifications

Physics PhD April 05 2016
Other Courses MSc June 30 2011
Member Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) 2015
Member Institute of Physics

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Research at Northumbria

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