{"id":24890,"date":"2017-01-12T10:22:27","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T15:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=24890"},"modified":"2017-01-12T10:22:27","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T15:22:27","slug":"science-looks-like-mira-abed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2017\/01\/science-looks-like-mira-abed\/","title":{"rendered":"This is What Science Looks Like at NC State: Mira Abed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> This post was written by Mira Abed, a Ph.D. student in NC State\u2019s Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science<\/a>. The post is an entry in an ongoing series<\/a> that we hope will highlight the diversity of researchers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you had told me ten years ago that I\u2019d be a Ph.D. student studying solar energy technologies, I would have laughed in your face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mira
Mira Abed working in working in the photovoltaics lab<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

No, really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years ago, a high school senior, I had just enrolled in a fashion design program. My back-up plan was to become an interior designer or a graphic designer \u2013 or maybe a chef, if I was feeling frisky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may think that the research I\u2019m doing now has nothing to do with any of my high school ambitions \u2013 but you\u2019d be wrong. The link between all of these interests and my own research in solar energy is simple: creativity. I\u2019ve always had a pretty strong creative streak. From puzzles and problem solving to crafting and cooking, I love letting my imagination run wild and then doing something with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the first thing that attracted me to chemistry was the way it fed my curiosity. So many of the seemingly mundane principles I learned in high school seemed so awesome once I realized how they can explain the world around me. I remember sitting in class during my first semester in college \u2013 the guest lecturer, David Hinks, was explaining what gives a molecule its color, and I was spellbound. That lecture on the chemistry of color is ultimately what inspired me to change my major to Polymer and Color Chemistry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years later, I\u2019m still fascinated by color. More precisely, I am interested in the way light interacts with matter on a molecular level. We call this photochemistry. Photochemistry explains why your shirt is blue, how you sunburn, and why that old photograph is so faded you can barely make out your great-grandmother\u2019s face anymore. Cool, right? But photochemistry can do more than just explain light-matter interactions \u2013 it can help us exploit those interactions to do important things like converting sunlight into electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mira
Mira Abed with her sisters, Erica (left) and Sasha (right). Photo courtesy of Abed.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Right now, I\u2019m working on a technology called dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). DSSCs work by using a dye to absorb light, and then capturing excited electrons from those dye molecules in an electrical circuit. This is a widely-researched technology, but even with all the work that has been done there are several problems \u2013 but that\u2019s okay, because I love problem-solving!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the dyes that are best for DSSCs contain a rare and expensive metal called ruthenium. It\u2019s rarer than gold and platinum; more in the osmium and tellurium ballpark (don\u2019t worry if you didn\u2019t notice those at the bottom of your periodic table). While ruthenium might make some good solar cells, it is cheaper and more sustainable to use more abundant metals, or even metal-free dyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Substituting another metal for ruthenium is not as easy as it may sound. Ruthenium has some pretty cool photochemical properties that make it a really good candidate for DSSCs, so any dye that can replace a ruthenium dye has to make up for that loss in other ways. Along with some other researchers around the world, I\u2019m trying to make solar cells with cheaper metals that can compete with their ruthenium-based cousins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what I use my creativity for now. Instead of designing the latest fashions, I\u2019m designing new dyes. Instead of spending my days drowning in colorful fabrics, I\u2019m juggling colorful (and sometimes stinky) solutions. My hope is that my ideas can help sustain our future world, and that all of us who work in renewable energy can see our work implemented for the common good.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> This post was written by Mira Abed, a Ph.D. student in NC State\u2019s Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science<\/a>. The post is an entry in an ongoing series<\/a> that we hope will highlight the diversity of researchers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you had told me ten years ago that I\u2019d be a Ph.D. student studying solar energy technologies, I would have laughed in your face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mira
Mira Abed working in working in the photovoltaics lab<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

No, really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years ago, a high school senior, I had just enrolled in a fashion design program. My back-up plan was to become an interior designer or a graphic designer \u2013 or maybe a chef, if I was feeling frisky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may think that the research I\u2019m doing now has nothing to do with any of my high school ambitions \u2013 but you\u2019d be wrong. The link between all of these interests and my own research in solar energy is simple: creativity. I\u2019ve always had a pretty strong creative streak. From puzzles and problem solving to crafting and cooking, I love letting my imagination run wild and then doing something with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the first thing that attracted me to chemistry was the way it fed my curiosity. So many of the seemingly mundane principles I learned in high school seemed so awesome once I realized how they can explain the world around me. I remember sitting in class during my first semester in college \u2013 the guest lecturer, David Hinks, was explaining what gives a molecule its color, and I was spellbound. That lecture on the chemistry of color is ultimately what inspired me to change my major to Polymer and Color Chemistry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years later, I\u2019m still fascinated by color. More precisely, I am interested in the way light interacts with matter on a molecular level. We call this photochemistry. Photochemistry explains why your shirt is blue, how you sunburn, and why that old photograph is so faded you can barely make out your great-grandmother\u2019s face anymore. Cool, right? But photochemistry can do more than just explain light-matter interactions \u2013 it can help us exploit those interactions to do important things like converting sunlight into electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mira
Mira Abed with her sisters, Erica (left) and Sasha (right). Photo courtesy of Abed.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Right now, I\u2019m working on a technology called dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). DSSCs work by using a dye to absorb light, and then capturing excited electrons from those dye molecules in an electrical circuit. This is a widely-researched technology, but even with all the work that has been done there are several problems \u2013 but that\u2019s okay, because I love problem-solving!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the dyes that are best for DSSCs contain a rare and expensive metal called ruthenium. It\u2019s rarer than gold and platinum; more in the osmium and tellurium ballpark (don\u2019t worry if you didn\u2019t notice those at the bottom of your periodic table). While ruthenium might make some good solar cells, it is cheaper and more sustainable to use more abundant metals, or even metal-free dyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Substituting another metal for ruthenium is not as easy as it may sound. Ruthenium has some pretty cool photochemical properties that make it a really good candidate for DSSCs, so any dye that can replace a ruthenium dye has to make up for that loss in other ways. Along with some other researchers around the world, I\u2019m trying to make solar cells with cheaper metals that can compete with their ruthenium-based cousins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what I use my creativity for now. Instead of designing the latest fashions, I\u2019m designing new dyes. Instead of spending my days drowning in colorful fabrics, I\u2019m juggling colorful (and sometimes stinky) solutions. My hope is that my ideas can help sustain our future world, and that all of us who work in renewable energy can see our work implemented for the common good.<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discover how a fascination with color led one researcher from fashion design to solar cell technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":23129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"caption\":\"\",\"displayCategoryID\":2131}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[490,512,502,479],"tags":[670,644,671],"class_list":["post-24890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-people","category-research-and-innovation","category-student-success","category-tecs","tag-doctoral","tag-fiber-and-polymer-science","tag-polymer-and-color-chemsitry"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"This is What Science Looks Like at NC State: Mira Abed - 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