The search for environmentally benign energy sources and efficient energy storage materials remains a primary focus of scientists from various disciplines and backgrounds. Nature has devised complex systems such as enzymes that capture and store energy in different forms. There are several (chemical and biological) approaches to obtain catalytic systems which require costly machinery, rendering them inefficient on the level of the recent energy demand. Photovoltaic devices which convert sun light into electrical energy serves as a crucial way of producing sustainable alternative energy. In this talk, I will present computationally-guided spectroscopic characterization and design of a-) bio-inspired catalysts and b-) Si-based solar cells fabricated by means of effusion cell equipped electron-beam evaporation technique followed by solid-phase, aluminum-induced or laser crystallization. In addition to typical characterization methods (FT-IR, ToF-SIMS, Raman, XRD, etc.), since it gives the chance to study different mechanisms with coherent spin control, we have employed Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy as well as calculations with Density Functional Theory. Working principles and electronic structure-function relationship of bio-inspired Fe catalysts will be presented. Moreover, optimization of quantitatively-evaluated unpaired electrons due to defect centers (dangling bonds, oxygen vacancies, interphase defects, etc.) in poly-Si thin films will be discussed.
