Moshe Chesler won the Marshall Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Award

Congratulations to physics graduate student Moshe Chesler, who has been selected to receive the Spring 2025 Louise Foucar Marshall Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. This recognition is based on the topic, methodology, and potential contribution of his dissertation.

Moshe Chesler, under the supervision of his PhD Advisor Prof. Sumit Mazumdar, works on singlet fission (SF), a photophysical process observed in several classes of organic compounds that has implications for improving solar cell efficiency. In SF, an optical spin-singlet exciton generated upon photoexcitation by exposure to sunlight is converted into a bound triplet-triplet biexciton which may eventually dissociate into two separated spin-triplet excitons which may then each dissociate further into electrons and holes in a donor-acceptor heterostructure, contributing to current generation.  This increased generation of charge carriers upon initial photoexcitation in principle may enable improved efficiency in solar energy capture in next generation solar cells that exploit the SF process. As such, identifying strong SF candidate materials is crucial to realizing this technological goal and may thus further advance the broader goal of shifting energy consumption needs to renewable energy sources, like solar power.

Moshe's research may facilitate shifting global energy dependence to renewable energy sources and hopefully mitigating and eventually reversing the effects of climate change. Arizona is uniquely positioned to contribute to and benefit from these efforts as both a leader in solar cell technology research and development as well as the sunniest state in America where there is immense potential for utilizing and benefiting from solar energy.  

Moshe will deliver a research presentation in early spring of 2025 at Marshall Foundation Fellowship and Scholarship award reception.