Ou Chen
Brown University, RI·Chemistry
Metal halide perovskites are crystals that absorb and emit light very efficiently. As tiny nanocrystals, they could be made cheaply from solution for use in light-based devices and electronics.
- Fields
Chemistry
Materials Science
Engineering
- Topics
perovskite nanocrystals
metal halide perovskites
lead-free perovskites
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Sep 2029
What they work on
- Test whether ultrathin perovskite nanowires can be built up from single metal-halide octahedra under mild, slow conditions, using in situ and ex situ characterization to reveal how they grow.
- Develop a reproducible synthesis of lead halide perovskite nanowires with exact unit-cell thickness, and extend it to lead-free double perovskite nanowires.
- Map the synthesis conditions for copper-based perovskite-analogue nanocrystals, using modular flow reactors with on-demand precursor heating, built-in light probes and machine-learning-guided experiments.
- Build networked self-driving labs that pair automated flow chemistry with federated learning to find lead-free perovskite nanocrystals and predict how synthesis settings affect their properties.
- Create a public, AI-ready database of perovskite nanocrystal synthesis experiments shared across institutions.
More about the research
The best-performing versions, however, contain toxic lead. The central challenge here is to make lead-free versions with precise control, and to make them faster and at larger scale. One project studies the basic chemistry of how ultrathin perovskite nanowires grow. Two others use automated flow reactors and machine learning to discover and manufacture lead-free perovskite nanocrystals.
Why it matters
Lead-free perovskite nanocrystals could make light-based technologies safer and cheaper. Examples include smart windows, luminescent solar concentrators (panels that gather sunlight onto solar cells), and other optical and electronic devices. Faster, automated discovery could shorten the search for new materials from years to weeks or months. Scalable manufacturing with little waste could lower energy use. A shared database could also help other materials scientists.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Collaborative Research: DMREF: Accelerated Discovery of Perovskite Nanomaterials Using Distributed Self-Driving Labs
NSF · Oct 2025 – Sep 2029
Unit-Cell Level Control and In-Situ Investigation of Ultrathin Perovskite Nanowires: New Fundamental Insights and Growth Mechanisms
NSF · Jul 2025 – Jun 2028
Collaborative Research: Scalable Nanomanufacturing of Perovskite-Analogue Nanocrystals via Continuous Flow Reactors
NSF · Jan 2024 – Dec 2026
Closest labs
Kristofer-Roy Reyes
University at Buffalo, NY·Materials Science
Discover lead-free metal halide perovskite nanocrystals by running networked self-driving laboratories that pair automated flow chemistry with machine learning to choose experiments on their own.
Michael McGehee
University of Colorado Boulder, CO·Materials Science
Synthesize all-inorganic triple-halide perovskites with band gaps of 1.9–2.1 eV and map which compositions mix into a single stable phase, using X-ray diffraction and composition analysis.
Jianshu Cao
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA·Chemistry
Model how coherent and entangled collective states emerge among coupled lead halide perovskite quantum dots, using quantum dynamics theory alongside experiments by partner groups.
The school
Brown University: 23 labs on PI Pages, $375M a year on research, 251 research doctorates a year.
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