Eric Isaacs

Research Assistant
Theory of Nanostructured Materials Facility
The Molecular Foundry
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

(510) 495-2776
EBIsaacs@lbl.gov

B.A. in Physics, UC Berkeley (2010)
Ph.D. in Applied Physics, Columbia University (In Progress)


I am currently a member of the theory facility at the Molecular Foundry working under the supervision of Jeffrey Neaton.

Research Interests

I am interested in the electronic structure of novel electronic materials for organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs), a promising candidate for low-cost solar energy conversion. I use first-principles methods based on density functional theory to calculate the ground- and excited-state properties of organic molecules to understand trends in OPV device performance. My general interests include the computational prediction and design of high-performance materials for renewable energy technologies such as photovoltaics and thermoelectrics.

Publications

  1. Relating Trends in First-Principles Electronic Structure and Open-Circuit Voltage in Organic Photovoltaics
    E. B. Isaacs, S. Sharifzadeh, B. Ma, and J. B. Neaton,
    J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2, 2531 (2011).

Presentations

  1. E. B. Isaacs, S. Sharifzadeh, B. Ma, and J. B. Neaton, “Correlating First-Principles Electronic Structure to Device Performance of Organic Photovoltaic Cells,” oral presentation, APS March Meeting (2011).
  2. E. B. Isaacs, S. Sharifzadeh, B. Ma, and J. B. Neaton, “Electronic Structure Insights into the Efficiency of Organic Photovoltaic Cells,” poster presentation, UC Berkeley Science and Engineering Poster Session (2010).
  3. E. B. Isaacs and F. Wang, “Optical Study of Thermal Transport in Suspended Silicon Nanowires,” poster presentation, UC Berkeley Physics Department Undergraduate Poster Session (2009).