About Dr. Pecunia

A Brief Biography

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Dr. Vincenzo Pecunia

Associate Professor - School of Sustainable Energy EngineeringSimon Fraser University, Canada

Head of Pecunia Research, Group – Sustainable Optoelectronics

BSc, MSc, PhD Cantab. 

FIMMM, SMIEEE, PEng

I am an Associate Professor in the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE), Simon Fraser University, Canada. Concurrently, I am the Head of the “Pecunia Research Group – Sustainable Optoelectronics”, which I founded in 2016. My group’s multidisciplinary research is at the intersection of materials science, physics, and electronics engineering. Specifically, I investigate emerging, environmentally friendly, printable semiconductors, such as organic semiconductors, lead-free perovskite-inspired materials, amorphous metal-oxide semiconductors, and carbon nanotubes. My interest in these semiconductors is motivated by their considerable potential for easy-to-make and environmentally friendly (opto-)electronics and photovoltaics, which could be deployed ubiquitously to enhance the sustainability of our daily lives. 

My research focuses on the experimental characterization and conditioning of the optoelectronic properties of these materials, as well as their device applications in solar cells, thin-film transistors, and photodetectors. By gaining a detailed understanding of their optoelectronic and device properties, I seek to rationally realize the full potential of these semiconductors for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. My ultimate goal is to develop semiconductor technologies that can contribute to the reduction of electronic waste, provide low-cost green energy, and enable the sensorization of our homes and cities for more sustainable living.

Prior to establishing the Pecunia Research Group, I worked full-time for over six years at the Optoelectronics Group of the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Whilst there I earned my PhD in Experimental Physics and worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate under the supervision of Professor Henning Sirringhaus. Before that, I completed my BSc and MSc in Electronics Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, Italy, where the MSc also included a joint program with the University of Texas at Austin, USA.

I have published numerous research articles in highly reputable peer-reviewed journals such as Nature, Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Nano Energy, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Optical Materials, and Nano-Micro Letters. Moreover, drawing from my research experience, I have also authored the books Organic Narrowband Photodetectors (Institute of Physics Publishing) and Organic and Amorphous-Metal-Oxide Flexible Analogue Electronics (Cambridge University Press). Please click here for a complete list of my research papers, while details of my books are provided here.​

I serve on the Editorial Boards of the journals Nanotechnology, Journal of Physics: Materials, Springer Nature Applied Sciences, and Frontiers in Electronics. I am Co-Editor of the Research Topic entitled “Next-Generation Optoelectronics with Emerging Hybrid Materials” for Frontiers in Electronics, as well as the Research Topic entitled “Current & Emerging Trends in Renewable Energy Harvesting Technologies” for Frontiers in Sustainability. Additionally, I am the Lead Guest Editor of the Focus Issue entitled “Grand Challenges in Halide Perovskites: Next Generation Photodetectors” for Journal of Physics: Materials, and Lead Guest Editor of the Focus Issue entitled “Green Nanomaterials for a Sustainable Internet of Things” for Nanotechnology.

I am a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM) and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (SMIEEE).

Selected Publications

Dr Pecunia Representative Publications

Selected Books

V. Pecunia†, Organic Narrowband Photodetectors: Materials, Devices and Applications, Institute of Physics (IOP) Publishing, Bristol, UK, 2019. ISBN: 9780750326629, DOI: 10.1088/978-0-7503-2663-6. 

V. Pecunia†*, M. Fattori, S. Abdinia, E. Cantatore, H. Sirringhaus, Organic and Amorphous-Metal-Oxide Flexible Analogue Electronics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2018. ISBN: 9781108458191, DOI: 10.1017/9781108559034

Selected Research Papers

L. Portilla, K. Loganathan, H. Faber, A. Eid, J. G. D. Hester, M. M. Tentzeris, M. Fattori, E. Cantatore, C. Jiang, A. Nathan, G. Fiori, T. Ibn-Mohammed, T. D. Anthopoulos†, V. Pecunia†, Wirelessly Powered Large-Area Electronics for the Internet of Things, Nature Electronics, 6, 10–17, 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s41928-022-00898-5

J. Mei*, M. Liu, P. Vivo, V. Pecunia†*, Two-Dimensional Antimony-Based Perovskite-Inspired Materials for High-Performance Self-Powered Photodetectors, Advanced Functional Materials, 31, 2106295, 2021. DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202106295

V. Pecunia†*, L. G. Occhipinti, R. L.Z. Hoye†*, Emerging Indoor Photovoltaic Technologies for Sustainable Internet of Things, Advanced Energy Materials, 11, 2100698, 2021. DOI: 10.1002/aenm.202100698

V. Pecunia†, J. Zhao, C. Kim, B. R. Tuttle, J. Mei, F. Li, Y. Peng, T. Huq, R. L.Z. Hoye, N. D. Kelly, S. E. Dutton, K. Xia, J. MacManus-Driscoll, H. Sirringhaus, Assessing the Impact of Defects on Lead-Free Perovskite-Inspired Photovoltaics via Photoinduced Current Transient Spectroscopy, Advanced Energy Materials, 11, 22, 2003968, 2021. DOI: 10.1002/aenm.202003968

Y. Peng*, T. N. Huq*, J. Mei*, L. Portilla, R. A. Jagt, L. G. Occhipinti, J. L. MacManus-Driscoll, R. L. Z. Hoye†, V. Pecunia†, Lead-Free Perovskite-Inspired Absorbers for Indoor Photovoltaics, Advanced Energy Materials, 11, 1, 2002761, 2021. DOI: 10.1002/aenm.202002761

L. Portilla*, J. Zhao†, Y. Wang, L. Sun, F. Li, M. Robin, M. Wei, Z. Cui, L. G. Occhipinti†, T. D. Anthopoulos†, V. Pecunia†*, Ambipolar Deep-Subthreshold Printed-Carbon-Nanotube Transistors for Ultralow-Voltage and Ultralow-Power Electronics, ACS Nano, 14, 10, 14036–14046, 2020. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c06619

K. Xia*, Y. Li, Y. Wang, L. Portilla, V. Pecunia†*, Narrowband-Absorption-Type Organic Photodetectors for the Far-Red Range Based on Fullerene-Free Bulk Heterojunctions, Advanced Optical Materials, 8, 1902056, 2020. DOI: 10.1002/adom.201902056

F. Li*, Y. Wang, K. Xia, R. L. Z. Hoye, V. Pecunia†*, Microstructural and Photoconversion Efficiency Enhancement of Compact Films of Lead-Free Perovskite Derivative Rb3Sb2I9, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8, 4396–4406, 2020. DOI: 10.1039/C9TA13352F

V. Pecunia†*, Y. Yuan*, J. Zhao, K. Xia, Y. Wang, S. Duhm, L. Portilla, F. Li, Perovskite-Inspired Lead-Free Ag2BiI5 for Self-Powered NIR-Blind Visible Light Photodetection, Nano-Micro Letters, 12:27, 2020. DOI: 10.1007/s40820-020-0371-0

F. S. F. Brossard†*, V. Pecunia†*, A. J. Ramsay, J. P. Griffiths, M. Hugues, H. Sirringhaus, Inkjet Printed Nanocavities on a Photonic Crystal Template, Advanced Materials, 29, 1704425, 2017. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201704425

V. Pecunia†*, M. Nikolka*, A. Sou, I. Nasrallah, A. Y. Amin, I. McCulloch, H. Sirringhaus†, Trap Healing for High-Performance Low-Voltage Polymer Transistors and Solution-Based Analog Amplifiers on Foil, Advanced Materials, 29, 1606938, 2017. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201606938

Y. Hu*, V. Pecunia*, L. Jiang, C. Di, X. Gao, H. Sirringhaus†, Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy Investigation of the Role of Minority Carriers on the Switching Characteristics of Organic Field-Effect Transistors, Advanced Materials, 28, 4713–4719, 2016. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201503812

V. Pecunia, K. Banger, H. Sirringhaus†, High-Performance Solution-Processed Amorphous-Oxide-Semiconductor TFTs with Organic Polymeric Gate Dielectrics, Advanced Electronic Materials, 1, 1400024, 2015. DOI: 10.1002/aelm.201400024

D. Venkateshvaran*, M. Nikolka*, A. Sadhanala, V. Lemaur, M. Zelazny, M. Kepa, M. Hurhangee, A. J. Kronemeijer, V. Pecunia, I. Nasrallah, I. Romanov, K. Broch, I. McCulloch, D. Emin, Y. Olivier, J. Cornil, D. Beljonne, H. Sirringhaus†, Approaching Disorder-Free Transport in High-Mobility Conjugated Polymers, Nature, 515, 384–388, 2014. DOI: 10.1038/nature13854

J. Kronemeijer†, V. Pecunia, D. Venkateshvaran, M. Nikolka, A. Sadhanala, J. Moriarty, M. Szumilo, H. Sirringhaus†, Two-Dimensional Carrier Distribution in Top-Gate Polymer Field-Effect Transistors: Correlation between Width of Density of Localized States and Urbach Energy, Advanced Materials, 26, 728–733, 2014.DOI: 10.1002/adma.201303060

Patents

V. Pecunia, L. Portilla, J. Zhao, Low-Voltage, Low-Power Complementary Circuits, Inverters, and NAND Gates (一种低压、低功率互补电路、一种反相器和一种NAND器件), Chinese Patent no. CN111584484A, 9 August 2023 (granted).

H. Sirringhaus, K. Banger, V. Pecunia (equal contribution), Organic polymer gate dielectric material for transistor devices, US Patent no. 10,573,759 B2, 25 February 2020 (granted).

F. S. F. Brossard, V. Pecunia (equal contribution), Photonic Device, European Patent no. EP3333605, October 2019 (granted).