Despite the recent advances in the power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells, insights into the processing-driven thermo-mechanical stability of bulk heterojunction active layers are helping to advance the field. Lehigh University engineer Ganesh Balasubramanian, like many others, wondered if there were ways to improve the design of solar cells to make them more efficient? Balasubramanian, an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, studies the basic physics of the materials at the heart of solar energy conversion – the organic polymers passing electrons from molecule to molecule so they can be stored and harnessed – as well as the manufacturing processes that produce commercial solar cells. Using the Frontera supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) – one of the most powerful on the planet – Balasubramanian and his graduate student Joydeep Munshi have been running molecular models of organic solar cell production processes, and designing a framework to determine the optimal engineering choices. "When engineers make solar cells, they mix two organic molecules in a solvent and evaporate the solvent to create a mixture which helps with the exciton conversion and electron transport," Balasubramanian said.

From the Paleolithic Age to the coming fourth industrial revolution, the millions of years of human history is mainly marked by materials. Material science is mainly to explore the relationship between materials structure, process, properties, and application. The discovery of new materials will play a greater role in promoting the development of human society. After several centuries of development, a large amount of data has been accumulated in the field of materials science.1 However, the inherent limitations of human cognitive ability make it difficult for human beings to absorb and process the massive literature and data produced every day.2 Only a small part of data (compared with the whole data volume) can be analyzed in a certain subdivision field.