Prof. Dr. Efrat Lifshitz

Israel Institute of Technology
Nano science and Nanotechnology

External Senior Fellow
July 2015
September 2015

Last Update: 31.08.2015

Curriculum Vitae

Education and Professional Career

Education: Bs.C – The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, Ms.C and Ph.D – The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA; Postdoctoral periods – The University of Michigan and the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.

Permanent Position: Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion, Haifa, Israel (1990 – present)

Visiting Professor: Columbia University, New York City, USA (2012); University of Lyon-1, Lyon, France (2006); Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany (2003); University of California, Berkeley, USA (1996).

Professional activities (selective list): Chairman of the nanoGe meeting on the topic of “Fundamental Properties in Colloidal Quantum Dots”, Oxford, England; Guest Editor of the PhysChemChemPhys Journal for special issue on Fundamental Processes in Semiconductor Nanocrystals; Co-chair of EMRS meeting, at the session of “Organic and Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells”, Strasbourg, France; Chairman of the Quantsol conference, in Bad Hofgestein, Austria; Member of an the Advance Research Council (ERC); A Prestigious FP7 Program; Member of the Scientific Committee of a COST FP7 Program; Member of the Scientific Committee of the Israel Prize in Chemistry, Israel.

Mantoring: Graduated: 25 Ph.D. students, 12 Ms.C students, 11 postdoctoral and sabbatical Fellows; Currently: 10 graduate students, 4 – postdoctoral fellows, 1 research fellow, 3 undergraduate students

Publications and invited talks: ~ 190 Publications in Refereed Professional Journals; ~50 refereed Proceedings; ~85 invited talks in national and international conferences. Selective list of publication is given below.

Research Interests

Nano science and Nanotechnology: Semiconductor and Metallic Nanocrystals: (a) Materials Synthesis by Colloidal Chemistry and Spray Methods, with emphasize on core dots or rods, and corresponding core/shell heterostructures with alloying composition; (b) Optical and Magneto-optical Characterization: Photoluminescence, Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance and Cyclotron Resonance, Microwave Modulated Photoluminescence, Magneto-optical/Optical Spectroscopy of a Single Dot, Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy, Atomic-Force-Microscopy/Confocal Spectroscopy; (c) Applications: Photovoltaic Cells, Light Sources, Optical Switches, Biological Platforms

Selected Publications

S. Guo, L. Konopny, R. Popovitz-Biro, H. Cohen, M. Sirota, E. Lifshitz* and M. Lahav*, “Topotactic Release of CdS and Cd_1-xMn_xS from Solid Thioalkanoates with Ammonia to Yield Quantum Particles Arranged in Layers Within an Organic Composite”, Adv. Mat., (2000), 12, 302-306 .
E. Lifshitz*, A. Glozman, I.D. Litvin, and H. Porteanu, “Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance Studies of the Surface/Interface Properties of II-VI Semiconductor Quantum Dots”, J. Phys. Chem. B, (2000), 104, 10449-10461
R. Guliamov, E. Lifshitz*, E. Cohen, A. Ron, and L.N. Pfeiffer, “Indirect Barrier Electron-hole Gas Transitions in Mixed Type I – Type II GaAs/AlAs Multiple Quantum Wells”, Phys. Rev. B, (2001), 64, 0353141-0353145.
A. Glozman, E. Lifshitz*, K. Hoppe, A. L. Rogach, H. Weller, and A. Eychmüller, “Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance of Thiol-Capped CdTe Nanocrystals”, Israel J. of Chem., (2001), 41, 39-44 .
E. Lifshitz* and A. Glozman, “Optically Detected Spin and Orbit Resonance of Semiconductor Quantum Dots”, Phys. Stat. Sol. B, (2001), 224, 541-544.

FRIAS Project

New photovoltaic devices based on unique photostable coillodal quantum dots.

The project will focus on the implementation of unique core/shell coillodal quantum dots (CQDs) for 3^rd generation solar energy devices, and their characterization by magneto-optical techniques. The CQDs exhibit tunable band-edge energy with variation of their size, shape and composition. Of particular interest, are the CQDs from the IV-VI family, harvesting a wide spectral range covering the visible and infrared spectral regimes. Photo-stability of CQDs have been a weakness of major concern in practical life. The current project propose the use of unique CQDs comprised of core from the IV-VI semiconductor family, and a coated shell either from the IV-VI, II-VI semiconductor or atomistic helide atom coverage. Preliminary results indicated that the indicated coating render the particles with high absorption quantum efficiency and chemical and photochemical stability for a length of time. Also, the Lifshitz group have shown that alloying at the core/shell interface suppress carriers’ relaxation effects, such as Auger, that can be deleterious for solar devices. Thus, thus, elegant and complex CQDs will be the ground work in the current project. In addition, charge injection and carriers’ trapping are topics of major concern for the performance of a solar cells. The current project will focus on methodologies that can identify trapping sites (using magneto-optical means) and will suggest ways to mitigate the effect, by improvement of he CQDs quality and the device assembly.