Abby Carbone

Research Interests

Electron microscopy is a powerful tool to directly visualize and characterize materials at the nano-scale. In the case of perovskite solar cells, it provides a high resolution approach to characterize and understand degradation processes that remain a significant challenge for their application. Characterization of halide perovskites, however, is challenging because of extreme material instability under high energy electron and ion beams. This might explain the lack of more electron beam imaging studies of perovskite solar cells. My PhD work aims to circumvent these obstacles and obtain high-resolution data of device cross-sections using both scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. I am specifically interested in understanding perovskite degradation mechanisms, where the ultimate goal is to work together with the manufacturing team to engineer more stable and robust perovskite modules.

Publications

Colburn, T.W., Liu, K., Carbone, A., Elsafty, O. and Dauskardt, R.H. (2024), Mechanical Design Guidelines to Inhibit Fracture in Perovskite Solar Cells. Sol. RRL 2400321. https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202400321

Awards

• Department of Defense NDSEG Fellow 
• Stanford SoE Engineering Fellow: Fall 2020-Spring 2022
• School of Engineering Centennial TA Award (2022)