Laura Herz

Short CV

Laura Herz is a Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford where she directs the Semiconductors Group at the Clarendon Laboratory, and is the Associate Head of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division for Research. She received her PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge in 2002 and was a Research Fellow at St John's College Cambridge from 2001 – 2003, after which she moved to a faculty position at Oxford Physics. Professor Herz has published over 165 peer-reviewed research articles (>31000 citations, h-index 67 – Google Scholar Jan 2021) and has been listed by Clarivate Analytics/Web of Science as a Highly Cited Researcher since 2018. Recently, she was awarded the Nevill Mott Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Bessel Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is an Associate Editor of Applied Physics Reviews, Chemical Physics Reviews (AIP) and a member of the editorial advisory board for ACS Energy Letters and JPC Letters. Prof Herz is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, and University College Oxford.

Selected Awards

• 2018-2020, Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate Analytics/Web of Science)
• 2018, Nevill Mott Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics
• 2018, Friedrich-Wilhelm-Bessel Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
• 2018, Student-Led Teaching Award, Outstanding Graduate Supervisor, by the Oxford Student Union
• 2018, Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry 
• 2018, Elected Fellow of the Institute of Physics 
• 2007, Alfred Woodhead Award, Society for Information Display (SID) 
• 2006-2012, EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship 
• 2002, PhD Thesis Prize, Institute of Physics Quantum Electronics and Photonics Group 
• 2001-2003, Research Fellowship, St. John’s College, Cambridge, UK 

Research Interests

Research in the Herz group explores the fundamental science and applications of semiconducting materials and nanostructures ranging from hybrid systems such as sensitized metal oxides and organic-inorganic perovskites to organic molecules and solids, III-V inorganic semiconductors and nanostructures. Current work focuses on common themes such as photophysical and nano-scale effects, self-assembly, charge-carrier dynamics, energy-transfer and light-harvesting for solar energy conversion. The group has leading expertize in a large range of spectroscopic and analytical techniques, and collaborates with device physicists, theoretical researchers, synthetic chemists and materials scientists in order to advance the development of these novel materials for energy harvesting, with a particular current focus on next-generation photovoltaic cells. Detailed information on current and past research in the Herz group can be found on the group’s web pages: https://www-herz.physics.ox.ac.uk/research.html

Selected Publications

• Disentangling the effects of structure and lone-pair electrons in the lattice dynamics of halide perovskites, S. Caicedo-Dávila, A. Cohen, S.G. Motti, M. Isobe, K.M. McCall, M. Grumet, M.V. Kovalenko, O. Yaffe, L. M. Herz, D. H. Fabini, D. A. Egger, Nature Communications 15 (1) (2024)
   
• Atomic-scale microstructure of metal halide perovskite, M. Uller Rothmann, J. S. Kim, J. Borchert, K. Lohmann, C. M. O’Leary, A. Sheader, L. Clark, H. J. Snaith, M. B. Johnston, P. D. Nellist, and L. M. Herz, Science 370, eabb5940 (2020).
   
• Intrinsic quantum confinement in formamidinium lead triiodide perovskite, A. D. Wright, G. Volonakis, J. Borchert, C. L. Davies, F. Giustino, M. B. Johnston, and L. M. Herz, Nature Materials 19, 1201–1206 (2020).
   
• Electronic traps and phase segregation in lead mixed-halide perovskite, A. Knight, A. D. Wright, J. B. Patel, D. McMeekin, H. J. Snaith, M. B. Johnston, and L. M. Herz, ACS Energy Lett. 4, 75–84 (2019).
   
• Heterogeneous photon recycling and charge diffusion enhance charge transport in quasi-2D lead-halide perovskite films, S. G. Motti, T. Crothers, R. Yang, Y. Cao, R. Li, M. B. Johnston, J. Wang, and L. M. Herz, Nano Lett. 19, 3953–3960 (2019).
   
• High irradiance performance of metal halide perovskites for concentrator photovoltaics, Z. Wang, Q. Lin, B. Wenger, M. G. Christoforo, Y.-H. Lin, M. T. Klug, M. B. Johnston, L. M. Herz, H. J. Snaith, Nature Energy 3, 855-861 (2018).
   
• Bimolecular recombination in methylammonium lead triiodide perovskite is an inverse absorption process, C. L. Davies, M. R. Filip, J. B. Patel, T. W. Crothers, C. Verdi, A. D. Wright, R. L. Milot, F. Giustino, M. B. Johnston, and L. M. Herz, Nature Communications 9, 293 (2018).
   
• Photon reabsorption masks intrinsic bimolecular charge-carrier recombination in CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskite, T. W. Crothers, R. L. Milot, J. B. Patel, E. S. Parrott, J. Schlipf, P. Müller-Buschbaum, M. B. Johnston, and L. M. Herz, Nano Lett. 17, 5782-5789 (2017).
   
• Charge-carrier dynamics in 2D hybrid metal−halide perovskites, R. L. Milot, R. J. Sutton, G. E. Eperon, A. A. Haghighirad, J. M. Hardigree, L. Miranda, H. J. Snaith, M. B. Johnston, and L. M. Herz, Nano Letters 16, 7001-7007 (2016).
   
• Electron-phonon coupling in hybrid lead halide perovskites, A. D. Wright, C. Verdi, R. L. Milot, G. E. Eperon, M. A. Pérez-Osorio, H. J. Snaith, F. Giustino, M. B. Johnston, and L. M. Herz, Nature Communications 7, art. no. 11755 (2016).
   
• A mixed-cation lead mixed-halide perovskite absorber for tandem solar cells, D. P. McMeekin, G. Sadoughi, W. Rehman, G. E. Eperon, M. Saliba, M. T. Hörantner, A. Haghighirad, N. Sakai, L. Korte, B. Rech, M. B. Johnston, L. M. Herz, and H. J. Snaith, Science 351, 151-155 (2016).

A full publication list is available here. (Google Scholar)