Research

Reliability of Solar Cells

We are investigating the effect of temperature, mechanical damage (cracks), and microstructure on the performance of thin-film flexible solar cells.  This project has been funded by Purdue PRF grant and PNW summer research grant.

Major publication (Selected list)

Kim, Hansung and Cias, Szymon P., Effect of oxide diffusion barrier and substrate on the reliability of stainless-steel-based CIGS solar cells. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 2024. 272: p. 112888.

Hansung Kim, Da Xu, Ciby John, Yaqiong Wu,  “Modeling Thermo-Mechanical Stress of CIGS Solar Cells,” IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 9, no.2, pp. 499-505, Mar 2019.

Hansung Kim and Benjamin. G. Wojkovich, “Effects of Mechanical Damage and Temperature on the Electrical Performance of CIGS Thin-Film Solar Cells,” IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 1331-1336, Sep 2018.

Hansung Kim, MD Tofiq Tofail, and Ciby John, “The Effect of Interface Cracks on the Electrical Performance of Solar Cells,” JOM, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 473-478, Apr 2018.

Facilities and Equipment

Solar Powered Electric Vehicle

We are building solar powered EV for Shell Eco- Marathon Competition.  This project has been funded by NASA Indiana Space Consortium.

solar_car_with_seniorsSolar_car_with_senior_students
Solar-powered EV with seniorsSolar-powered EV with seniors2
Current picture of solar powered EV3D model of solar powered EV
3D model of solar car frame3D model of solar car power train
3D model of solar powered EV frame3D model of  powertrain 

Modeling and Characterization of Bio/Energy Materials

We are investigating the behaviors of Bio/Energy materials through modeling and experiments.  This project has been supported by NASA Indiana Space Consortium and PNW college of ES grant.

  1. Modeling and AFM/SEM characterization of hydrogel
  2. Modeling and AFM characterization of silicon
Prof.Kim at
AFM image of Hydrogel and silicon samplesProf. Kim is investigating the grain boundaries of silicon in the cleanroom of Birck Nanotechnology center.

Lifetime Prediction of Electronic Devices

We are investigating the effect of temperature, humidity, and chemical corrosion on the lifetime of electronic devices.  This project has been funded by Naval Sea Systems Command.

Lifetime prediction diagram
Overall Process of lifetime prediction
Lifetime prediction at 150CComparison of MTTF of a transistor
Lifetime prediction of 3904 NPN transistor at 150℃ based on 200 ℃ and 250℃ experimentsPrediction of Mean Time to  Failure (MTTF) of a bipolar transistor at different temperatures