B.G. Potter

Dr. Barrett G. Potter, Jr. is a Professor and Associate Department Head in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and a Professor in the College of Optical Sciences. He also serves as co-Director for the Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (AzRISE) at the University. Dr. Potter pursues research interests in glass, ceramic, and molecular-hybrid optical and electronic materials addressing such areas as integrated photonics, optoelectronics, energy conversion/storage and enhanced reliability in these systems. In the renewable energy generation arena, his work spans semiconductor nanocomposite systems for enhanced thin-film photovoltaic (PV) conversion efficiency, quantum-scale semiconductor integration into PV device architectures, PV module spectral response measurement for increased-fidelity irradiance-to-power models in solar forecasting, Si PV material- and subsystem-level degradation studies under combined environments, and full-scale solar module accelerated lifecycle testing and analysis. His work in solar energy technology has involved collaborations within the UA, at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and with industrial partners representing module manufacturers, materials producers, solar forecasting technology innovators, and battery system manufacturers. He has authored or co-authored over 95 refereed articles, 2 patents, and has delivered more that 90 presentations (20 invited) on research in energy materials, photoactivated materials phenomena, optically driven molecular assembly, nanocomposite optoelectronics materials, rare-earth doped matrices, and ferroelectric electro-optics.