About

Ivy Mawusi Asuo is an assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State University. She is a scientist with extensive research experience in materials science, photovoltaics, energy, and scientific project management. Her work has included roles as a scientific researcher and lead Materials Scientist in various companies and research institutes such as INRS-EMT, Faurecia Emissions Control Technologies-GmbH, LOWDO-AMP, and Grenoble Institute of Technology. Notably, her work at AMP led to the establishment of a local fabrication laboratory for urban mining of electronic waste in Ghana, where she also composed manuals for plastic recycling and dismantling electrical and electronic appliances. She is engaged in mentorship and positive influence through co-founding DAMINY EduNergy Ltd, a platform focusing on leadership, education, science, and research to model future minds and young scholars in her continent. Prior to her current position, she worked with WattByWatt Inc. in Canada, developing materials for energy saving and conversion for outdoor and indoor device applications. Her research primarily focuses on the ambient synthesis of energy materials, especially metal halide perovskites for photovoltaic and optoelectronic device applications, including electron microscopic and photo-physical studies of organic-inorganic halide perovskite materials, their relation to device performance, in-situ characterization of film formation and stability, and exploring deposition techniques for large-scale manufacturability of OPV and perovskite solar cells.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Process engineering
• Materials science
• Environmental science
• Engineering
• Chemical engineering

Selected publications

• Stability of Perovskite Indoor Photovoltaics: A Focused Review and a Call for Standardized Stability Reporting

  Advanced Energy Materials · 2026-02-03 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT Metal halide perovskite indoor photovoltaics (IPVs) are the top contenders in terms of efficiency among emerging IPV technologies. The state‐of‐the‐art perovskite IPVs have already achieved reported efficiencies above 44%, indicating their significant potential. However, only a small percentage of reports discuss stability measurements, with approximately 7% adopting the International Summit on Organic PV Stability (ISOS) protocol for stability evaluation. A standard for the stability assessment of emerging thin film IPVs still lags. This research area remains largely unexplored, yet it is essential to the commercialization of IPV technologies. This review focuses on perovskite‐based IPVs, with an emphasis on device stability. It provides discussions of the origins of degradation in perovskite materials and their corresponding IPV devices. This is followed by an overview of various structure–property–stability strategies, including compositional, interface, and device design engineering for perovskite materials to improve their performance. Finally, the review outlines some existing stability test protocols that could apply to perovskite IPVs, including addressing mitigation issues, such as encapsulation, draws the attention of researchers in the field, and calls for the development of standardized stability test protocols for perovskite IPVs and for understanding how these tests correlate with actual indoor lifespans to enable the commercialization of perovskite IPVs.

  PublisherDOI

• Author response for "Ambient-Processed Semitransparent Perovskite Solar Cells from Eco-friendly Solvents"

  2025-09-26

  peer-review
  PublisherDOI

• Ambient-processed semitransparent perovskite solar cells from eco-friendly solvents

  Energy Advances · 2025-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  A simple spin-coating speed-tuning approach for safer-solvent ambient-processed perovskite thin film can lead to semitransparent solar cells. The study compares DMSO with the traditional DMF:DMSO for semitransparent perovskite thin films and devices.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Phenanthrenequinone, a Nonvolatile, Nonhalogenated Solid Additive, for Enhancing Thermal Stability in Organic Solar Cells

  ACS Materials Au · 2025-11-04 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Various types of additives have been reported to enhance the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, commonly used solvent additives often compromise device stability and contain harmful halogen elements. Although many studies have introduced high-boiling-point solvent additives and solid additives, these materials often contain toxic components or require a complex synthesis. In particular, a comprehensive understanding of their effects on device stability under various conditions is still lacking. In this study, we introduce 9,10-phenanthrenequinone (PQ), a commercially available, low-cost, nonvolatile, and nonhalogenated solid additive. The addition of PQ enhances the overall device stability by reducing energy disorder under ambient conditions and suppressing phase segregation, thereby improving the morphological stability under illumination and thermal stress. Notably, PQ-based unencapsulated devices retained over 93% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 100 h of thermal stress at 85 °C, with negligible burn-in degradation, representing one of the best thermal stability results reported for PM6:Y6 binary systems. This comprehensive stability study not only provides valuable guidance for the long-term reliability of bulk heterojunction OSCs but also highlights the potential of nonvolatile, nonhalogenated solid additives, such as PQ, which combines low cost, commercial availability, environmental friendliness, and improved efficiency and stability, for the future commercialization of OSCs.

  PublisherDOI

• A Molecular‐Level Exploration of Dopant‐Free Pyrazine‐Derived Hole Transport Materials: Investigation of Interfacial Interaction in Perovskite Photovoltaics

  ChemPlusChem · 2025-04-27

  article

  The development of innovative core structures and peripheral groups for organic hole-transporting materials (HTMs) continues to be a focal point in enhancing the performance of perovskite solar cells (PVSCs). This study reports the design and synthesis of dopant-free pyrazine-based HTMs. PS1 features a D-A-D type structure with pyrazine as the acceptor and 4,4'-dimethoxy triphenylamine (4,4'-OMe-TPA) as the donor, while PS2 adopts a D-π-A-π-D configuration with an additional thiophene unit as π-spacer along with 4,4'-OMe-TPA as donor. Both compounds are synthesized through a simple two-step synthetic procedure. These HTMs are subjected to structural, photophysical, electrochemical, theoretical, and photoelectrochemical studies with an emphasis on evaluation of structure-property relationships. Theoretical studies are conducted to explore the electronic distribution, optimized molecular structure, and frontier molecular orbitals. Their performance in PVSCs is systematically evaluated without adding dopants. PS2 exhibits superior photoluminescence quenching compared to PS1, indicating more efficient charge transfer from the perovskite layer. Notably, PS2 achieves a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.9%, surpassing the performance of PS1 (PCE of 10.15%). These findings highlight the potential of adjusting the electron-deficient core and π-bridge units as an effective strategy to optimize the properties of HTMs and improve their performance in PVSC applications.

  PublisherDOI

• Dopant-free hydrophobic fluorene-based hole transport materials: impact of methoxy-substituted triphenylamine and carbazole peripheral groups on the performance of perovskite solar cells

  Sustainable Energy & Fuels · 2025-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Two fluorene-based dopant-free D–π–D type HTMs (V1 and V2) are designed. The perovskite solar cell with V1, which contains a methoxy-TPA donor moiety, achieves a PCE of 14% maintaining 75% of its initial efficiency for over 480 hours.

  PublisherDOI

• Author response for "A-site Cation Modification of Cs-Based Perovskite Thin Film for Green Light Emitting Diodes"

  2025-08-06

  peer-review
  PublisherDOI

• Author response for "A-site Cation Modification of Cs-Based Perovskite Thin Film for Green Light Emitting Diodes"

  2025-07-02

  peer-review
  PublisherDOI

• Substitutional doping of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides for device applications: Current status, challenges and prospects

  Materials Science and Engineering R Reports · 2025-02-05 · 26 citations

  articleOpen access

  Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have emerged as a class of materials with exceptional electronic, optical, and mechanical properties, making them highly tunable for diverse applications in nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, and catalysis. This review focuses on substitutional doping of TMDs, a key strategy to tailor their properties and enhance device performance, with a focus on its applications over the past five years (2019–2024). We delve into both theoretical and experimental doping approaches, including established methods like chemical vapor transport (CVT) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) alongside liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) and post-synthesis treatments. Advanced growth techniques are also explored. Challenges like dopant uniformity, concentration control, and stability are addressed. The influence of various dopants on the electronic band structure, carrier concentration, and defect engineering is analyzed in detail. We further explore recent advancements in utilizing doped TMDs for field-effect transistors (FETs), photodetectors, sensors, photovoltaics, optoelectronic devices, energy storage and conversion, and even quantum computers. By examining both the potential and limitations of substitutional doping, this review aims to propel future research and technological advancements in this exciting field.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A-site cation modification of Cs-based perovskite thin film for green light-emitting diodes

  Journal of Materials Chemistry C · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access

  Examining A-site cation modification and anti-solvent effects on Cs-based perovskites reveal that using toluene coupled with a small amount of FA + affects the optoelectronic, structural, and morphological properties of the thin films and device.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Riad Nechache

  Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique

  41 shared

• A. Pignolet

  Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique

  38 shared

• Ibrahima Ka

  38 shared

• Sylvain G. Cloutier

  Université du Québec à Montréal

  38 shared

• Nutifafa Y. Doumon

  National Renewable Energy Laboratory

  26 shared

• Dawit Gedamu

  École de Technologie Supérieure

  22 shared

• Debika Banerjee

  École de Technologie Supérieure

  11 shared

• François-Xavier Fortier

  École de Technologie Supérieure

  8 shared

Awards & honors

• INRS-Quebec Director's Medal of Honor Award, 2022
• INRS-Quebec Best Thesis Award for the cohort, 2022
• Fonds de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologies (FRQNT…
• MATECSS Excellence Scholarships (MES), 2016-2020
• Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Scheme for MSc in Functionalized…