I got 1%!

Research is a long hard road, paved with blood, sweat and tears. I still remembered my first solar cell, with 0.08% efficiency. That is absymal, compared with 1.6% that others have done with the same materials, or 6.5% for the record organic solar cell efficiency.

Soon after, with some improvements, I got 0.65%. But that became a brick wall, and it was not before long that my efficiencies went back to 0.40%, for inexplicable reasons. All I targeted then was to get 1%. But I seemed to have been stuck in a hole.

George told me that we just need to focus on proof of principle, rather than going all out to break efficiency records. And then I met Prof Tang, who gave me a sound piece of advice - rather than blindly focusing on efficiencies, I can do a good PhD just by looking at solar cell mechanisms and stability.

So I did. I decided to forget about efficiencies for a while, and go study energy transfer in solar cells. And you really do not need your cells to work all that well for that project. So life was easier, in a way.

But who can give up the dream of high efficiency? It is, after all, the ultimate goal, and what everyone else is concerned about. So I went back to it, like a stubborn child. And with increased knowledge and expertise, I finally got 1.28%... after 1 year. Not too bad in my humble opinion.

Can I publish, though? I still have to worry about that, and how I can best present my data. But breaking the 1% is almost like a childhood dream. More symbolic than anything else, I suppose.