Professor Girish Lakhwani
People_

Professor Girish Lakhwani

MSc (Integrated) IIT Kanpur; PhD TU Eindhoven
Phone
+61 2 9351 5783
Fax
+61 2 9351 3329
Address
F11 - Chemistry Building
The University of Sydney
Websites
Professor Girish Lakhwani
  • M.Sc (Integrated), Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, 2000-05
  • PhD, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, 2005-09
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Texas at Austin, USA, 2009-11
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Cambridge, UK, 2011-14
  • Lecturer, University of Sydney, 2014-17
  • Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney, 2018-20
  • Director, Institute of Photonics and Optical Science (IPOS), 2020-22
  • Associate Professor,University of Sydney, 2021-24
  • Deputy Director, The University of Sydney Nano Institute, 2022-23
  • Associate Dean, Faculty of Science, 2023-24
  • ARC College of Experts, 2024-
  • Editorial Advisory Board Member, The Journal of Physical Chemistry A/B/C, 2024-
  • Professor, University of Sydney, 2025-

The main research focus of my group is on the optoelectronic properties of novel nanoscale semiconductor materials to deliver solutions for solar energy harvesting, optical switches, and polariton lasers. I am interested in:

  • Harnessing chirality at a nanoscale and polarization of light to discover new optical phenomena
  • Utilising strong light matter interactions via formation of polaitons to tune excitonic properties
  • Molecular photophysics of semiconductor materials

To know more about our research, please visit our group webpage

  • Molecular Stability and Reactivity (CHEM2521)
  • Optical Spectroscopy, Chemistry Interdisciplinary Project (CHEM3888)

Vice-Chancellor's award for outstanding teaching and research, The University of Sydney, 2019

Project titleResearch student
Deploying multimodal responsive sensorsManal ALWAHSH
Study of Chirality in Hybrid Metal Halide PerovskitesStevie FURXHIU
Fluorescent sensing approaches to understand biological processesTahir WASEEM

Publications

Journals

  • Goldingay, A., Stuart, A., Ghosh, P., Yadav, S., Gangadharappa, C., Patil, S., Rao, A., Lakhwani, G. (2024). Quantifying Dual-Direction Energy Harvesting in Twisted Perylene Nonfullerene Acceptor Organic Photovoltaics. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 127(51), 24598-24607. [More Information]
  • Tang, Y., Stuart, A., Van Der Laan, T., Lakhwani, G. (2024). Strong Light-Matter Coupling Leads to a Longer Charge Carrier Lifetime in Cavity Organic Solar Cells. ACS Photonics, 11(4), 1627-1637. [More Information]
  • Stuart, A., Bergmann, K., Cho, I., Kendrick, W., Hudson, Z., Wong, W., Lakhwani, G. (2024). Triplet dynamics reveal loss pathways in multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters. Chemical Science. [More Information]

2024

  • Goldingay, A., Stuart, A., Ghosh, P., Yadav, S., Gangadharappa, C., Patil, S., Rao, A., Lakhwani, G. (2024). Quantifying Dual-Direction Energy Harvesting in Twisted Perylene Nonfullerene Acceptor Organic Photovoltaics. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 127(51), 24598-24607. [More Information]
  • Tang, Y., Stuart, A., Van Der Laan, T., Lakhwani, G. (2024). Strong Light-Matter Coupling Leads to a Longer Charge Carrier Lifetime in Cavity Organic Solar Cells. ACS Photonics, 11(4), 1627-1637. [More Information]
  • Stuart, A., Bergmann, K., Cho, I., Kendrick, W., Hudson, Z., Wong, W., Lakhwani, G. (2024). Triplet dynamics reveal loss pathways in multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters. Chemical Science. [More Information]

2023

  • Hall, L., D'Alessandro, D., Lakhwani, G. (2023). Chiral metal–organic frameworks for photonics. Chemical Society Reviews, 52(10), 3567-3590. [More Information]
  • Li, Y., Lakhwani, G. (2023). Distributed feedback lasers up to the 400th Bragg order with an organic active layer. Applied Physics Letters, 122(2). [More Information]
  • Tang, S., Peracchi, S., Pastuovic, Z., Liao, C., Xu, A., Bing, J., Zheng, J., Mahmud, M., Wang, G., Townsend-Medlock, E., Lakhwani, G., McKenzie, D., Baillie, A., et al (2023). Effect of Hole Transport Materials and Their Dopants on the Stability and Recoverability of Perovskite Solar Cells on Very Thin Substrates after 7 MeV Proton Irradiation. Advanced Energy Materials, , 2300506.

2022

  • Li, Y., Lakhwani, G. (2022). Active waveguide Bragg lasers via conformal contact PDMS stamps. Scientific Reports, 12(1). [More Information]
  • Price, M., Hume, P., Ilina, A., Wagner, I., Tamming, R., Thorn, K., Jiao, W., Campbell, A., Conaghan, P., Lakhwani, G., et al (2022). Free charge photogeneration in a single component high photovoltaic efficiency organic semiconductor. Nature Communications, 13(1), 2827. [More Information]
  • Sharma, A., Athanasopoulos, S., Li, Y., Sanders, S., Kumarasamy, E., Campos, L., Lakhwani, G. (2022). Probing Through-Bond and Through-Space Interactions in Singlet Fission-Based Pentacene Dimers. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 13(39), 8978-8986. [More Information]

2021

  • Sabatini, R., Lakhwani, G. (2021). Achromatic polarization control in the visible. Nature Photonics, 15(11), 797-799. [More Information]
  • Wang, T., Sabatini, R., Chan, B., Hou, J., Huynh, V., Proschogo, N., Xie, Z., Wang, T., Gao, L., Zhang, J., Hawkett, B., Clarke, R., Kepert, C., Lakhwani, G., D'Alessandro, D., et al (2021). Fluorescence Enhancement through Confined Oligomerization in Nanochannels: An Anthryl Oligomer in a Metal-Organic Framework. ACS Materials Letters, 3(11), 1599-1604. [More Information]
  • Li, Y., Sabatini, R., Prasad, S., Hockings, E., Schmidt, T., Lakhwani, G. (2021). Improved optical confinement in ambipolar field-effect transistors toward electrical injection organic lasers. Applied Physics Letters, 119(16), 163303. [More Information]

2020

  • Long, G., Sabatini, R., Saidaminov, M., Lakhwani, G., Rasmita, A., Liu, X., Sargent, E., Gao, W. (2020). Chiral-perovskite optoelectronics. Nature Reviews. Materials, 5(6), 423-439. [More Information]
  • Steinmetz, V., Climente, J., Pandya, R., Planelles, J., Margaillan, F., Puttisong, Y., Dufour, M., Ithurria, S., Sharma, A., Lakhwani, G., et al (2020). Emission State Structure and Linewidth Broadening Mechanisms in Type-II CdSe/CdTe Core-Crown Nanoplatelets: A Combined Theoretical-Single Nanocrystal Optical Study. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 124(31), 17352-17363. [More Information]
  • Zhang, B., Lyskov, I., Wilson, L., Sabatini, R., Manian, A., Soleimaninejad, H., White, J., Smith, T., Lakhwani, G., Jones, D., et al (2020). FRET-enhanced photoluminescence of perylene diimides by combining molecular aggregation and insulation. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 8(26), 8953-8961. [More Information]

2019

  • Sharma, A., Campbell, A., Leoni, J., Cheng, Y., Muellner, M., Lakhwani, G. (2019). Circular Intensity Differential Scattering Reveals the Internal Structure of Polymer Fibrils. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 10(24), 7547-7553. [More Information]
  • Pandya, R., Steinmetz, V., Puttisong, Y., Dufour, M., Chen, W., Chen, R., Barisien, T., Sharma, A., Lakhwani, G., Mitioglu, A., et al (2019). Fine structure and spin dynamics of linearly polarized indirect excitons in two-dimensional CdSe/CdTe colloidal heterostructures. ACS Nano, 13(9), 10140-10153. [More Information]
  • Sabatini, R., Zhang, B., Gupta, A., Leoni, J., Wong, W., Lakhwani, G. (2019). Molecularly isolated perylene diimides enable both strong exciton-photon coupling and high photoluminescence quantum yield. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 7(10), 2954-2960. [More Information]

2018

  • Sharma, A., Athanasopoulos, S., Tapping, P., Sabatini, R., McRae, O., Muellner, M., Kee, T., Lakhwani, G. (2018). Emission decay pathways sensitive to circular polarization of excitation. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 122(42), 23910-23916. [More Information]

2017

  • Li, C., Vaynzof, Y., Lakhwani, G., Beirne, G., Wang, J., Greenham, N. (2017). Observation of oxygen vacancy migration in memory devices based on ZnO nanoparticles. Journal of Applied Physics, 121(14), 144503-1-144503-6. [More Information]

2016

  • Meskers, S., Lakhwani, G. (2016). A model for exciton-polaritions in uniaxial molecular crystals describing spatial dispersion, refraction and reflection. arxiv.org, 145(19), 194703-1-194703-55. [More Information]
  • Kettner, O., Pein, A., Trimmel, G., Christian, P., Rothel, C., Salzmann, I., Resel, R., Lakhwani, G., Lombeck, F., Sommer, M., et al (2016). Mixed side-chain geometries for aggregation control of poly(fluorene-alt-bithiophene) and their effects on photophysics and charge transport. Synthetic Metals, 220, 162-173. [More Information]
  • Meskers, S., Lakhwani, G. (2016). Reflection of light by anisotropic molecular crystals including exciton-polaritons and spatial dispersion. Journal of Chemical Physics, 145(19), 1-10. [More Information]

2015

  • Chow, P., Bayliss, S., Lakhwani, G., Greenham, N., Friend, R. (2015). In situ optical measurement of charge transport dynamics in organic photovoltaics. Nano Letters, 15(2), 931-935. [More Information]

2014

  • Lakhwani, G., Rao, A., Friend, R. (2014). Bimolecular Recombination in Organic Photovoltaics. Annual Review of Physical Chemistry, 65, 557-581. [More Information]
  • Kumar, A., Lakhwani, G., Elmalem, E., Huck, W., Rao, A., Greenham, N., Friend, R. (2014). Interface limited charge extraction and recombination in organic photovoltaics. Energy and Environmental Science, 7(7), 2227-2231. [More Information]
  • Li, C., Beirne, G., Kamita, G., Lakhwani, G., Wang, J., Greenham, N. (2014). Probing the switching mechanism in ZnO nanoparticle memristors. Journal of Applied Physics, 116(11), 114501-1-114501-5. [More Information]

2013

  • Li, Z., Lakhwani, G., Greenham, N., McNeill, C. (2013). Voltage-dependent photocurrent transients of PTB7:PC70BM solar cells: Experiment and numerical simulation. Journal of Applied Physics, 112(3), 1-9. [More Information]

2012

  • Adachi, T., Lakhwani, G., Traub, M., Ono, R., Bielawski, C., Barbara, P., Vanden Bout, D. (2012). Conformational Effect on Energy Transfer in Single Polythiophene Chains. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 116(32), 9866-9872. [More Information]
  • Lakhwani, G., Meskers, S. (2012). Insights from Chiral Polyfluorene on the Unification of Molecular Exciton and Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Theories for Chiroptical Phenomena. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 116(4), 1121-1128. [More Information]

2011

  • Lakhwani, G., Meskers, S. (2011). Circular selective reflection of light proving cholesteric ordering in thin layers of chiral fluorene polymers. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2(13), 1497-1501. [More Information]
  • Traub, M., Lakhwani, G., Bolinger, J., Vanden Bout, D., Barbara, P. (2011). Electronic energy transfer in highly-aligned MEH-PPV single chains. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 115(33), 9941-9947. [More Information]

2010

  • Gilot, J., Abbel, R., Lakhwani, G., Meijer, E., Schenning, A., Meskers, S. (2010). Polymer photovoltaic cells sensitive to the circular polarization of light. Advanced Materials, 22(20), E131-E134. [More Information]
  • Lakhwani, G., Roijmans, R., Kronemeijer, A., Gilot, J., Janssen, R., Meskers, S. (2010). Probing charge carrier density in a layer of photodoped ZnO nanoparticles by spectroscopic ellipsometry. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 114(35), 14804-14810. [More Information]

2009

  • Lakhwani, G., Janssen, R., Meskers, S. (2009). Anisotropic dielectric tensor for chiral polyfluorene at optical frequencies. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 113(43), 14165-14171. [More Information]
  • Lakhwani, G., Meskers, S. (2009). Beta phase in chiral polyfluorene forms via a precursor. Macromolecules, 42(12), 4220-4223. [More Information]
  • Lakhwani, G., Gielen, J., Kemerink, M., Christianen, P., Janssen, R., Meskers, S. (2009). Intensive chiroptical properties of chiral polyfluorenes associated with fibril formation. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 113(43), 14047-14051. [More Information]

2007

  • Lakhwani, G., Meskers, S., Janssen, R. (2007). Circular differential scattering of light in films of chiral polyfluorene. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 111(19), 5124-5131. [More Information]
  • Lakhwani, G., Koeckelberghs, G., Meskers, S., Janssen, R. (2007). The chiroptical properties of chiral substituted poly[3-((3S)-3,7-dimethyloctyl)thiophene] as a function of film thickness. Chemical Physics Letters, 437(4-6), 193-197. [More Information]

Selected Grants

2024

  • Strong light-matter coupling: a new direction in optical computing, Lakhwani G, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Future Fellowships (FT)
  • Ultrafast Infrared Spectroscopy Facility, Lakhwani G, D'Alessandro D, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF)

2023

  • Chiral Nanophotonics, Lakhwani G, Nano Institute/Kickstarter