Today most photovoltaic devices are based on doped silicon, which creates a junction between a donor dopant (p-type) and an acceptor dopant (n-type). Under illumination and forward bias, charge separation is created. With the increasing demand for miniaturization the devices become smaller, going towards the nano scale regime. In the nano scale doping is extremely difficult. In my work I am presenting a possible solution for this problem creating charge separation without the need of doping by using chiral molecules and nano sized semiconductors (Quantum dots).

Recent work on spin selectivity in chiral molecules shows that they can be applied as spin filters at room temperature^1,2, an effect that is termed the chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS). We are using a polarized excitation of quantum dots to create a uni-oriented spin current of the CISS effect. Thus, we can create charge separation in the nano scale. 

References

1. Waldeck, D. H. Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity E ff ect. (2012).
2. Göhler, B. et al. Spin selectivity in electron transmission through self-assembled monolayers of double-stranded DNA. Science 331, 894–7 (2011).