Dr Robert Oliver (he/him)

School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering

Lecturer in Sustainable Materials

Robert Oliver
Profile picture of Robert Oliver
robert.oliver@sheffield.ac.uk
Sir Robert Hadfield Building

Full contact details

Dr Robert Oliver
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
Profile

I am a Lecturer in Sustainable Materials in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield. I am interested in studying materials that have the potential to mitigate the effects of climate change, especially through more efficient solar energy generation. To achieve this goal, my research focuses on understanding the interplay between the photophysics, device physics and materials properties of novel semiconducting materials with an emphasis on metal halide perovskites.

I received a First Class MPhys in Physics from Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 2018. Following this, I was at St Anne's College, Oxford where I conducted my DPhil studies under the supervision of Prof Henry Snaith FRS and Prof Michael Johnston, defending my thesis entitled "Interfaces in Metal Halide Perovskite Photovoltaics" in 2022. I won the prestigious MRS Graduate Student Award in 2022 for the quality of my DPhil work. In 2022, I moved to the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield where his postdoctoral work studying the influence of strong light-matter coupling on the photophysics of organic materials was supervised by Prof Jenny Clark and Prof Julia Weinstein. In October 2023, I began my Lectureship in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield.

Research interests

I lead the Optoelectronic Devices and Spectroscopy Group (ODSG), a multidisciplinary research group based in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield. We are interested in understanding the materials science, physics and chemistry of emerging semiconductors for practical applications, especially in photovoltaic or LED devices. 

The group works across the boundaries of high performance device development and understanding, materials engineering and advanced spectroscopic techniques. This multidisciplinary approach allows us to identify the design rules for next-generation optoelectronic devices. Our ultimate aim is to discover and enhance technologies that can assist in the fight against climate change. 

Key research interests:

  • Photovoltaics
  • Optoelectronics
  • Metal halide perovskites
  • Device physics
  • Optical spectroscopy
Publications

Journal articles

  • Cassella EJ, Oliver RDJ, Thornber T, Tucker S, Goodwin R, Lidzey DG & Ramadan AJ (2024) . Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 12(34), 13332-13342.
  • Lin Y-H, Vikram , Yang F, Cao X-L, Dasgupta A, Oliver RDJ, Ulatowski AM, McCarthy MM, Shen X, Yuan Q , Christoforo MG et al (2024) . Science, 384(6697), 767-775.
  • Rider MS, Johnson EC, Bates D, Wardley WP, Gordon RH, Oliver RDJ, Armes SP, Leggett GJ & Barnes WL (2024) . Nanophotonics, 13(14), 2453-2467.
  • Lee JE, Motti SG, Oliver RDJ, Yan S, Snaith HJ, Johnston MB & Herz LM (2024) . Advanced Functional Materials, 34(30).
  • Cassella EJ, Thornber T, Oliver RDJ, O’Kane ME, Spooner ELK, Kilbride RC, Catley TE, Game OS, Ramadan AJ & Lidzey DG (2024) . Solar RRL, 8(2).
  • Ramadan AJ, Jeong WH, Oliver RDJ, Jiang J, Dasgupta A, Yuan Z, Smith J, Lee JE, Motti SG, Gough O , Li Z et al (2024) . Advanced Functional Materials, 34(14).
  • Cassella EJ, Thornber T, Oliver RDJ, O’Kane ME, Spooner ELK, Kilbride RC, Catley TE, Game OS, Ramadan AJ & Lidzey DG (2024) . Solar RRL, 8(2).
  • Ramadan AJ, Oliver RDJ, Johnston MB & Snaith HJ (2023) . Nature Reviews Materials, 8(12), 822-838.
  • Xu W, Hart LJF, Moss B, Caprioglio P, Macdonald TJ, Furlan F, Panidi J, Oliver RDJ, Pacalaj RA, Heeney M , Gasparini N et al (2023) . Advanced Energy Materials, 13(36).
  • Jin H, Farrar MD, Ball JM, Dasgupta A, Caprioglio P, Narayanan S, Oliver RDJ, Rombach FM, Putland BWJ, Johnston MB & Snaith HJ (2023) . Advanced Functional Materials, 33(35).
  • Claronino P, Jayaprakash R, Jessewitsch T, Kilbride RC, Thornber T, Muravitskaya A, Oliver RDJ, Scherf U, Bouillard J-SG, Adawi AM & Lidzey DG (2023) . Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 11(24), 8204-8213.
  • Caprioglio P, Smith JA, Oliver RDJ, Dasgupta A, Choudhary S, Farrar MD, Ramadan AJ, Lin Y-H, Christoforo MG, Ball JM , Diekmann J et al (2023) . Nature Communications, 14.
  • Cassella EJ, Spooner ELK, Smith JA, Thornber T, O'Kane ME, Oliver RDJ, Catley TE, Choudhary S, Wood CJ, Hammond DB , Snaith HJ et al (2023) . Advanced Energy Materials, 13(11).
  • Hu S, Zhao P, Nakano K, Oliver RDJ, Pascual J, Smith JA, Yamada T, Truong MA, Murdey R, Shioya N , Hasegawa T et al (2023) . Advanced Materials, 35(9).
  • Song H, Yang J, Jeong WH, Lee J, Lee TH, Yoon JW, Lee H, Ramadan AJ, Oliver RDJ, Cho SC , Lim SG et al (2023) . Advanced Materials, 35(8).
  • Yuan Q, Lohmann KB, Oliver RDJ, Ramadan AJ, Yan S, Ball JM, Christoforo MG, Noel NK, Snaith HJ, Herz LM & Johnston MB (2023) . ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 15(1), 772-781.
  • Lim VJ, Knight AJ, Oliver RDJ, Snaith HJ, Johnston MB & Herz LM (2022) . Advanced Functional Materials, 32(41).
  • Dasgupta A, Mahesh S, Caprioglio P, Lin Y-H, Zaininger K-A, Oliver RDJ, Holzhey P, Zhou S, McCarthy MM, Smith JA , Frenzel M et al (2022) . ACS Energy Letters, 7(7), 2311-2322.
  • Xiao K, Lin Y-H, Zhang M, Oliver RDJ, Wang X, Liu Z, Luo X, Li J, Lai D, Luo H , Lin R et al (2022) . Science, 376(6594), 762-767.
  • Lohmann KB, Motti SG, Oliver RDJ, Ramadan AJ, Sansom HC, Yuan Q, Elmestekawy KA, Patel JB, Ball JM, Herz LM , Snaith HJ et al (2022) . ACS Energy Letters, 7(6), 1903-1911.
  • Chen Y, Motti SG, Oliver RDJ, Wright AD, Snaith HJ, Johnston MB, Herz LM & Filip MR (2022) . The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 13(18), 4184-4192.
  • Oliver RDJ, Caprioglio P, Peña-Camargo F, Buizza LRV, Zu F, Ramadan AJ, Motti SG, Mahesh S, McCarthy MM, Warby JH , Lin Y-H et al (2022) . Energy & Environmental Science, 15(2), 714-726.
  • Knight AJ, Borchert J, Oliver RDJ, Patel JB, Radaelli PG, Snaith HJ, Johnston MB & Herz LM (2021) . ACS Energy Letters, 6(2), 799-808.
  • Oliver RDJ, Lin Y-H, Horn AJ, Xia CQ, Warby JH, Johnston MB, Ramadan AJ & Snaith HJ (2020) . ACS Energy Letters, 5(11), 3336-3343.
  • Lin Y-H, Sakai N, Da P, Wu J, Sansom HC, Ramadan AJ, Mahesh S, Liu J, Oliver RDJ, Lim J , Aspitarte L et al (2020) . Science, 369(6499), 96-102.
  • Warby JH, Wenger B, Ramadan AJ, Oliver RDJ, Sansom HC, Marshall AR & Snaith HJ (2020) . ACS Nano, 14(7), 8855-8865.
  • Lohmann KB, Patel JB, Rothmann MU, Xia CQ, Oliver RDJ, Herz LM, Snaith HJ & Johnston MB (2020) . ACS Energy Letters, 5(3), 710-717.
  • Motti SG, Patel JB, Oliver RDJ, Snaith HJ, Johnston MB & Herz LM () . Nature Communications, 12(1).
  • Mahesh S, Ball JM, Oliver RDJ, McMeekin DP, Nayak PK, Johnston MB & Snaith HJ () . Energy & Environmental Science, 13(1), 258-267.

Conference proceedings

  • Motti SG, Patel JB, Oliver RDJ, Snaith HJ, Johnston MB & Herz LM (2022) . 2022 47th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz) (pp 1-1), 28 August 2022 - 2 September 2022.
  • Oliver R & Clark J () . Proceedings of the MATSUS Fall 2023 Conference, 16 October 2023 - 20 October 2023.
Teaching activities

MAT61021 - (MSc level) Energy Generation and Storage
MAT113 - (UG level) Chemistry and Biology of Materials

Professional activities and memberships

MInstP (Member of the Institute of Physics)
FHEA (Fellow of Higher Education Academy)

Links