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
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)
Boland, Jessica L.; Damry, Djamshid A.; Xia, Chelsea Q.; Schönherr, Piet; Prabhakaran, Dharmalingam; Herz, Laura M.; Hesjedal, Thorsten; Johnston, Michael B.: Narrowband, Angle-Tunable, Helicity-Dependent Terahertz Emission from Nanowires of the Topological Dirac Semimetal Cd<sub>3</sub>As<sub>2</sub>. ACS Photonics 10 (5), 2023, 1473-1484 mehr…
Elmestekawy, Karim A.; Gallant, Benjamin M.; Wright, Adam D.; Holzhey, Philippe; Noel, Nakita K.; Johnston, Michael B.; Snaith, Henry J.; Herz, Laura M.: Photovoltaic Performance of FAPbI<sub>3</sub> Perovskite Is Hampered by Intrinsic Quantum Confinement. ACS Energy Letters 8 (6), 2023, 2543-2551 mehr…
Jia, Zhenglin; Righetto, Marcello; Yang, Yujie; Xia, Chelsea Q.; Li, Yanyan; Li, Ruiming; Li, Yuwei; Yu, Bin; Liu, Yong; Huang, Huiming; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.; Lin, Qianqian: Charge-Carrier Dynamics of Solution-Processed Antimony- and Bismuth-Based Chalcogenide Thin Films. ACS Energy Letters 8 (3), 2023, 1485-1492 mehr…
Lal, Snigdha; Righetto, Marcello; Ulatowski, Aleksander M.; Motti, Silvia G.; Sun, Zhuotong; MacManus-Driscoll, Judith L.; Hoye, Robert L. Z.; Herz, Laura M.: Bandlike Transport and Charge-Carrier Dynamics in BiOI Films. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 14 (29), 2023, 6620-6629 mehr…
Motti, Silvia G.; Kober‐Czerny, Manuel; Righetto, Marcello; Holzhey, Philippe; Smith, Joel; Kraus, Hans; Snaith, Henry J.; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.: Exciton Formation Dynamics and Band‐Like Free Charge‐Carrier Transport in 2D Metal Halide Perovskite Semiconductors. Advanced Functional Materials 33 (32), 2023 mehr…
Righetto, Marcello; Caicedo-Dávila, Sebastián; Sirtl, Maximilian T.; Lim, Vincent J.-Y.; Patel, Jay B.; Egger, David A.; Bein, Thomas; Herz, Laura M.: Alloying Effects on Charge-Carrier Transport in Silver–Bismuth Double Perovskites. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 14 (46), 2023, 10340-10347 mehr…
Righetto, Marcello; Wang, Yongjie; Elmestekawy, Karim A.; Xia, Chelsea Q.; Johnston, Michael B.; Konstantatos, Gerasimos; Herz, Laura M.: Cation‐Disorder Engineering Promotes Efficient Charge‐Carrier Transport in AgBiS<sub>2</sub> Nanocrystal Films. Advanced Materials 35 (48), 2023 mehr…
Rothmann, Mathias Uller; Lohmann, Kilian B.; Borchert, Juliane; Johnston, Michael B.; McKenna, Keith P.; Herz, Laura M.; Nellist, Peter D.: Atomistic Understanding of the Coherent Interface Between Lead Iodide Perovskite and Lead Iodide. Advanced Materials Interfaces 10 (28), 2023 mehr…
Sebastiá-Luna, Paz; Rodkey, Nathan; Mirza, Adeem Saeed; Mertens, Sigurd; Lal, Snigdha; Gaona Carranza, Axel Melchor; Calbo, Joaquín; Righetto, Marcello; Sessolo, Michele; Herz, Laura M.; Vandewal, Koen; Ortí, Enrique; Morales-Masis, Mónica; Bolink, Henk J.; Palazon, Francisco: Chalcohalide Antiperovskite Thin Films with Visible Light Absorption and High Charge-Carrier Mobility Processed by Solvent-Free and Low-Temperature Methods. Chemistry of Materials 35 (16), 2023, 6482-6490 mehr…
Shen, Xinyi; Gallant, Benjamin M.; Holzhey, Philippe; Smith, Joel A.; Elmestekawy, Karim A.; Yuan, Zhongcheng; Rathnayake, P. V. G. M.; Bernardi, Stefano; Dasgupta, Akash; Kasparavicius, Ernestas; Malinauskas, Tadas; Caprioglio, Pietro; Shargaieva, Oleksandra; Lin, Yen‐Hung; McCarthy, Melissa M.; Unger, Eva; Getautis, Vytautas; Widmer‐Cooper, Asaph; Herz, Laura M.; Snaith, Henry J.: Chloride‐Based Additive Engineering for Efficient and Stable Wide‐Bandgap Perovskite Solar Cells. Advanced Materials 35 (30), 2023 mehr…
Ulatowski, Aleksander M.; Elmestekawy, Karim A.; Patel, Jay B.; Noel, Nakita K.; Yan, Siyu; Kraus, Hans; Huggard, Peter G.; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.: Contrasting Charge‐Carrier Dynamics across Key Metal‐Halide Perovskite Compositions through In Situ Simultaneous Probes. Advanced Functional Materials 33 (51), 2023 mehr…
Wright, Adam D.; Patel, Jay. B.; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.: Temperature‐Dependent Reversal of Phase Segregation in Mixed‐Halide Perovskites. Advanced Materials 35 (19), 2023 mehr…
Yan, Siyu; Patel, Jay B.; Lee, Jae Eun; Elmestekawy, Karim A.; Ratnasingham, Sinclair R.; Yuan, Qimu; Herz, Laura M.; Noel, Nakita K.; Johnston, Michael B.: A Templating Approach to Controlling the Growth of Coevaporated Halide Perovskites. ACS Energy Letters 8 (10), 2023, 4008-4015 mehr…
2022
Chen, Yinan; Motti, Silvia G.; Oliver, Robert D. J.; Wright, Adam D.; Snaith, Henry J.; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.; Filip, Marina R.: Optoelectronic Properties of Mixed Iodide–Bromide Perovskites from First-Principles Computational Modeling and Experiment. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 13 (18), 2022, 4184-4192 mehr…
Elmestekawy, Karim A.; Wright, Adam D.; Lohmann, Kilian B.; Borchert, Juliane; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.: Controlling Intrinsic Quantum Confinement in Formamidinium Lead Triiodide Perovskite through Cs Substitution. ACS Nano 16 (6), 2022, 9640-9650 mehr…
Hooijer, Rik; Bein, Thomas; Biewald, Alexander; Sirtl, Maximilian T.; Malburg, Julian; Holfeuer, Rico; Weis, Andreas; Yousefi Amin, Amir Abbas; Righetto, Marcello; Hartschuh, Achim; Herz, Laura M.; Thamm, Simon: Silver-Bismuth based 2D Double Perovskites (4FPEA)4AgBiX8 (X=Cl, Br, I): Highly Oriented Thin Films with Large Domain Sizes and Ultrafast Charge-Carrier Localization. Proceedings of the International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics, Fundació Scito, 2022 mehr…
Huang, Yi-Teng; Kavanagh, Seán R.; Righetto, Marcello; Rusu, Marin; Levine, Igal; Unold, Thomas; Zelewski, Szymon J.; Sneyd, Alexander J.; Zhang, Kaiwen; Dai, Linjie; Britton, Andrew J.; Ye, Junzhi; Julin, Jaakko; Napari, Mari; Zhang, Zhilong; Xiao, James; Laitinen, Mikko; Torrente-Murciano, Laura; Stranks, Samuel D.; Rao, Akshay; Herz, Laura M.; Scanlon, David O.; Walsh, Aron; Hoye, Robert L. Z.: Strong absorption and ultrafast localisation in NaBiS2 nanocrystals with slow charge-carrier recombination. Nature Communications 13 (1), 2022 mehr…
Lim, Vincent J.‐Y.; Knight, Alexander J.; Oliver, Robert D. J.; Snaith, Henry J.; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.: Impact of Hole‐Transport Layer and Interface Passivation on Halide Segregation in Mixed‐Halide Perovskites. Advanced Functional Materials 32 (41), 2022, 2204825 mehr…
Lim, Vincent J.‐Y.; Ulatowski, Aleksander M.; Kamaraki, Christina; Klug, Matthew T.; Miranda Perez, Laura; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.: Air‐Degradation Mechanisms in Mixed Lead‐Tin Halide Perovskites for Solar Cells. Advanced Energy Materials, 2022, 2200847 mehr…
Lohmann, Kilian B.; Motti, Silvia G.; Oliver, Robert D. J.; Ramadan, Alexandra J.; Sansom, Harry C.; Yuan, Qimu; Elmestekawy, Karim A.; Patel, Jay B.; Ball, James M.; Herz, Laura M.; Snaith, Henry J.; Johnston, Michael B.: Solvent-Free Method for Defect Reduction and Improved Performance of p-i-n Vapor-Deposited Perovskite Solar Cells. ACS Energy Letters 7 (6), 2022, 1903-1911 mehr…
Oliver, Robert D. J.; Caprioglio, Pietro; Peña-Camargo, Francisco; Buizza, Leonardo R. V.; Zu, Fengshuo; Ramadan, Alexandra J.; Motti, Silvia G.; Mahesh, Suhas; McCarthy, Melissa M.; Warby, Jonathan H.; Lin, Yen-Hung; Koch, Norbert; Albrecht, Steve; Herz, Laura M.; Johnston, Michael B.; Neher, Dieter; Stolterfoht, Martin; Snaith, Henry J.: Understanding and suppressing non-radiative losses in methylammonium-free wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells. Energy & Environmental Science 15 (2), 2022, 714-726 mehr…
Yuan, Qimu; Lohmann, Kilian B.; Oliver, Robert D. J.; Ramadan, Alexandra J.; Yan, Siyu; Ball, James M.; Christoforo, M. Greyson; Noel, Nakita K.; Snaith, Henry J.; Herz, Laura M.; Johnston, Michael B.: Thermally Stable Perovskite Solar Cells by All-Vacuum Deposition. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 15 (1), 2022, 772-781 mehr…
Zhou, Yuanyuan; Herz, Laura M.; Jen, Alex K-Y.; Saliba, Michael: Advances and challenges in understanding the microscopic structure–property–performance relationship in perovskite solar cells. Nature Energy 7 (9), 2022, 794-807 mehr…
2021
Buizza, Leonardo R. V.; Herz, Laura M.: Polarons and Charge Localization in Metal‐Halide Semiconductors for Photovoltaic and Light‐Emitting Devices. Advanced Materials 33 (24), 2021, 2007057 mehr…
Buizza, Leonardo R. V.; Sansom, Harry C.; Wright, Adam D.; Ulatowski, Aleksander M.; Johnston, Michael B.; Snaith, Henry J.; Herz, Laura M.: Interplay of Structure, Charge‐Carrier Localization and Dynamics in Copper‐Silver‐Bismuth‐Halide Semiconductors. Advanced Functional Materials 32 (6), 2021, 2108392 mehr…
Buizza, Leonardo R. V.; Wright, Adam D.; Longo, Giulia; Sansom, Harry C.; Xia, Chelsea Q.; Rosseinsky, Matthew J.; Johnston, Michael B.; Snaith, Henry J.; Herz, Laura M.: Charge-Carrier Mobility and Localization in Semiconducting Cu2AgBiI6 for Photovoltaic Applications. ACS Energy Letters 6 (5), 2021, 1729-1739 mehr…
Motti, Silvia G.; Patel, Jay B.; Oliver, Robert D. J.; Snaith, Henry J.; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.: Phase segregation in mixed-halide perovskites affects charge-carrier dynamics while preserving mobility. Nature Communications 12 (1), 2021 mehr…
Sansom, Harry C.; Longo, Giulia; Wright, Adam D.; Buizza, Leonardo R. V.; Mahesh, Suhas; Wenger, Bernard; Zanella, Marco; Abdi-Jalebi, Mojtaba; Pitcher, Michael J.; Dyer, Matthew S.; Manning, Troy D.; Friend, Richard H.; Herz, Laura M.; Snaith, Henry J.; Claridge, John B.; Rosseinsky, Matthew J.: Highly Absorbing Lead-Free Semiconductor Cu2AgBiI6 for Photovoltaic Applications from the Quaternary CuI–AgI–BiI3 Phase Space. Journal of the American Chemical Society 143 (10), 2021, 3983-3992 mehr…
Savill, Kimberley J.; Ulatowski, Aleksander M.; Herz, Laura M.: Optoelectronic Properties of Tin–Lead Halide Perovskites. ACS Energy Letters 6 (7), 2021, 2413-2426 mehr…
Ulatowski, Aleksander M.; Farrar, Michael D.; Snaith, Henry J.; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.: Revealing Ultrafast Charge-Carrier Thermalization in Tin-Iodide Perovskites through Novel Pump–Push–Probe Terahertz Spectroscopy. ACS Photonics 8 (8), 2021, 2509-2518 mehr…
Wright, Adam D.; Buizza, Leonardo R. V.; Savill, Kimberley J.; Longo, Giulia; Snaith, Henry J.; Johnston, Michael B.; Herz, Laura M.: Ultrafast Excited-State Localization in Cs2AgBiBr6 Double Perovskite. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 12 (13), 2021, 3352-3360 mehr…
Xia, Chelsea Q; Poncé, Samuel; Peng, Jiali; Ulatowski, Aleksander M; Patel, Jay B; Wright, Adam D; Milot, Rebecca L; Kraus, Hans; Lin, Qianqian; Herz, Laura M; Giustino, Feliciano; Johnston, Michael B: Ultrafast photo-induced phonon hardening due to Pauli blocking in MAPbI<sub>3</sub> single-crystal and polycrystalline perovskites. Journal of Physics: Materials 4 (4), 2021, 044017 mehr…
