Christopher Petoukhoff

Biography

Christopher Petoukhoff is currently a KAUST Global Postdoctoral (KGFP) Fellow in the KAUST Solar Technology Platform, within the Ultrafast Dynamics (UFD) and KAUST Photovoltaic (KPV) Groups. He received his PhD in 2017 from Rutgers University in Materials Science and Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Deirdre O’Carroll. During his PhD, he was awarded with a Corning, Inc. fellowship, an NSF-IGERT traineeship, and an NSF-EAPSI – JSPS Summer fellowship. He transitioned to Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) as a postdoc in 2017 to undertake research on ultrafast spectroscopy of solar energy materials. Christopher joined KAUST in 2022 to pursue his research interests in predicting, understanding, and mitigating losses in organic and perovskite solar cells. He combines time-resolved and steady-state optical spectroscopies with optoelectronic simulations and morphological characterization to understand and predict performance and stability losses. He has been working towards mitigating these losses using nanophotonic structures, nanomaterials, and interfacial molecular engineering.

Research Interests

photophysics, ultrafast spectroscopy, emerging semiconductors, emerging photovoltaics, nanomaterials, nanophotonics

Selected Publications

R. A. Alzahrani, N. Alshehri, A. A. Alessa, D. A. Amer, O. Matiash, C. S. P. De Castro, S. Alam, J. P. Jurado, J. Gorenflot, F. Laquai,* C. E. Petoukhoff* “On the use of reflection polarized optical microscopy for rapid comparison of crystallinity and phase segregation of P3HT:PCBM thin-films” Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2024, 45 (24), 2400577.
G. Pica, L. Pancini, C. E. Petoukhoff, B. Vishal, F. Toniolo, C. Ding, Y..-K. Jung, M. Prato, S. De Wolf, C.-Q. Ma, F. Laquai, A. Walsh, G. Grancini, “Breaking VOC limits in efficient perovskite solar cells by engineering photo-ferroelectric perovskite interfaces” Nat. Commun. 2024, 15, 8753.
A. G. Ricciardulli, C. E. Petoukhoff, A. Zhuravlova, A. G. Kelly, C. Ma, F. Laquai, J. N. Coleman, P. Samorì, “Defect-engineering of liquid-phase exfoliated 2D semiconductors: stepwise covalent growth of electronic lateral hetero-networks” Mater. Horiz. 2024, Advance Article.
L. V. Torres Merino, C. E. Petoukhoff, et al., “Impact of the valence band energy alignment at the hole-collecting interface on the photostability of wide band-gap perovskite solar cells” Joule 2024, 8 (9), P2585-2606.
V. Druet, D. Ohayon, C. E. Petoukhoff, et al., “A single n-type semiconducting polymer-based photo-electrochemical transistor” Nat. Commun. 2023, 14, 5481.
C. E. Petoukhoff*, K. M. Dani, D. M. O'Carroll*, "Strong Plasmon-Exciton Coupling in Ag Nanoparticle-Conjugated Polymer Core-Shell Hybrid Nanostructures," Polymers, 12, 2141 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12092141

C. E. Petoukhoff*, S. Kosar, M. Goto, I. Bozkurt, M. Chhowalla, K. M. Dani, "Charge Transfer Dynamics in Conjugated Polymer/MoS2 Organic/2D Heterojunctions," Mol. Syst. Des. Eng., 4, 929-938 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1039/C9ME00019D

C. E. Petoukhoff*, M. B. M. Krishna, D. Voiry, I. Bozkurt, S. Deckoff-Jones, M. Chhowalla, D. M. O’Carroll, K. M. Dani, "Ultrafast Charge Transfer and Enhanced Absorption in MoS2–Organic van der Waals Heterojunctions Using Plasmonic Metasurfaces,"ACS Nano, 10, 9899-9908 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.6b03414

C. E. Petoukhoff and D. M. O’Carroll*, "Absorption-Induced Scattering and Surface Plasmon Out-Coupling from Absorber-Coated Plasmonic Metasurfaces," Nat. Commun., 6, 7899 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8899
C. E. Petoukhoff, D. K. Vijapurapu, D. M. O’Carroll*, "Computational Comparison of Conventional and Inverted Organic Photovoltaic Performance Parameters with Varying Metal Electrode Surface Workfunction," Sol. Energ. Mat. Sol. Cells, 120, 572-583 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2013.09.041

Education

Ph.D., Materials Science & Engineering, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, United States of America, 2017.

B.S., Physics, University of the Sciences, Philadelphia, United States of America, 2011.

B.S., Chemistry, University of the Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America, 2011.

Professional Profile

Jul. 2022 - present: KAUST Global Postdoctoral Fellowship (KGFP), KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

Jan. -Jun. 2022: Postdoctoral Researcher, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

Jun. 2017-May 2021: Postdoctoral Researcher, Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology (OIST), Onna-son, Japan.

Jan. - Jun. 2019: Visiting Researcher, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India.

Jul. 2016-Apr. 2017: Special Research Student, Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology (OIST), Onna-son, Japan.

Scientific and Professional Membership

MRS, Optica

Awards

Apr. 2025, MRS Spring, Best Poster Award

Nov. 2024, Saudi-Japan Conference (KAUST), Best Poster Award

Jul. 2022 – present, KAUST Global Fellowship for Postdocs (KGFP)

May 2020, Sigma Pi Sigma Physics Honor Society Induction

Jun.-Aug 2015, NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes (EAPSI) - JSPS Summer Fellowship.

Sept. 2012-June 2015, NSF Integrative Graduate Education Research Traineeship (IGERT): Nanotechnology for Clean Energy

Sept. 2011-Aug. 2012, Corning, Inc. Fellowship

May 2011, Norman F. Ramsey Commencement Research Award

May 2011, Alumni Association Award for Physics

May 2010, Robert M. and May P. Jones Scholarship for Mathematics

KAUST Affiliations

Ultrafast Dynamics Group KAUST Prof. Frédéric Laquai's Group

KAUST Photovoltaics Lab Prof. STefaan De Wolf's Group

Research Interests Keywords

Nanophotonics Photopysics