Jake Bowers is a Reader in Photovoltaics in the PV Materials and Devices group at the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST). His research interests lie in the development of thin film chalcogenide based PV materials, including cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) and copper zinc tin selenide (CZTS), and transparent conducting oxides using vacuum and non-vacuum deposition techniques. He also has an interest in advanced characterization techniques for thin film photovoltaics including admittance spectroscopy, as well as photoluminescence and electroluminescence techniques.

During his time at Loughborough University, he has been involved in many different aspects of both photovoltaic materials development and applied photovoltaics. He has been involved in a number of UK and EU funded projects on photovoltaics and is currently a co-investigator on the EPSRC funded PVTEAM, and FP7 funded CHEETAH projects.

Dr Bowers studied Physics at Loughborough University from 2002 to 2005. He then started a PhD in 2006 at the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST), where his research focused on transparent conducting oxides for use single junction and multi-junction dye sensitized solar cells.

He was then a research associate at CREST in the Photovoltaic Materials and Devices group on interconnects for thin film solar cells, at which point he developed a keen interest in thin film chalcogenide based solar cells. He then moved to the Applied Photovoltaics group at CREST, where he worked in the FP7-SOPHIA project on the characterisation of PV modules. He was appointed Lecturer in Photovoltaics in 2012.

Professional Affiliations

Member of the Institute of Physics

Jake Bowers is a lecturer within the Photovoltaic Materials and Devices group at CREST. His current research students include:

  • Nayia Arnou (Atmospheric deposition of CIGS PV absorbers and transparent conducting oxides)
  • Francesco Bittau (Front contact development of CdTe solar cells - joint studentship with Department of Physics)
  • Christos Potamialis (Copper free back contact formation in CdTe solar cells)
  • Carl Cooper (Precurssor formation of materials for thin film solar cells - joint studentship with Department of Chemistry)

Undergraduate

  • ELA003 - Electronics A - Bipolar Transistor laboratories
  • BEng Final year project supervision

Postgraduate

  • ELP040 - Adavanced Photovoltaics - Thin Film Photovoltaics
  • REST MSc project supervision