Dr Shea (Xinya) Niu

Xinya (Google Scholar) completed her Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences from 2016 to 2020, where she graduated with strong academic distinction. Her undergraduate research project focused on the epitaxial structure of InP/InGaAs wide-band PIN photodiodes, encompassing device design, epitaxial structure optimisation, and electrical and optical characterisation.

She then joined the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford in 2020 under the supervision of Professor Sebastian Bonilla. Her doctoral research focused on the physics and engineering of semiconductor interfaces, with particular emphasis on interface passivation in silicon solar cells and the development of two-dimensional semiconductor field-effect transistors. A central theme of her work was the exploitation of permanently built-in electric fields in dielectric materials to enable controlled manipulation of carrier density in the neighbouring semiconductors and their interactions with interface defects.

Following the completion of her DPhil, Xinya joined the Solar Energy Group in Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research (OSCAR) in 2025 as a Research Scientist, where her research focuses on transparent conductive materials for tandem solar cell applications. Her current work spans the fabrication, characterisation, and simulation of advanced transparent conductors and their integration into high-efficiency tandem photovoltaic architectures. Through this research, she aims to address key challenges in optical transparency, electrical conductivity, and interface compatibility, supporting the development of next-generation solar energy technologies with improved performance and scalability.