Summer Barbecue Brings the Aydin Group Together and Farewell to Noah Straughan and Philip Neugebauer

July 22, 2026

This month, we said goodbye to two visiting researchers who have made valuable contributions to the Aydin Group: Noah Straughan and Philip Neugebauer.

Noah joined the Aydin Group for a ten-month placement, during which he successfully completed his MSc research project. His work focused on cation engineering of perovskite solar cells, with particular emphasis on understanding material properties through advanced characterization techniques, including photoluminescence spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and mass spectrometry. During his stay, Noah contributed to several ongoing research projects and helped strengthen our understanding of composition–structure–property relationships in perovskite materials.

Philip spent the last three months with the group, where he investigated the thermomechanical reliability of perovskite solar cells using finite element modelling (ANSYS). His work aimed to reveal the mechanisms responsible for stress generation and mechanical failure in thin-film photovoltaic device stacks, providing important insights that support one of our group's major long-term research directions on stable tandem solar cells.

At the Aydin Group, we strongly believe in supporting young researchers regardless of their career stage. Our multicultural and interdisciplinary environment brings together scientists and engineers from diverse backgrounds—including physics, chemistry, materials science, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering—to tackle ambitious challenges in next-generation photovoltaic technologies.

We are always pleased to welcome highly motivated visiting students and researchers who share our passion for perovskite and tandem solar cells. Equally, we consider every member of our group part of our extended scientific family, and our door remains open for former researchers to return and collaborate with us in the future as we continue building one of the leading research groups in tandem photovoltaics.

We thank Noah and Philip for their dedication, enthusiasm, and contributions, and we wish them every success in the next stage of their careers.

Noah and Erkan

Philip and Erkan

Also, to celebrate the summer and strengthen team spirit, the Aydin Group recently organized a barbecue on the LMU campus. The event provided an excellent opportunity for group members to take a break from the laboratory, catch up with one another, and welcome conversations beyond day-to-day research.

With researchers from diverse cultural and scientific backgrounds, the barbecue reflected the collaborative and international atmosphere of our group. Informal gatherings such as these play an important role in fostering new ideas, strengthening friendships, and creating an enjoyable working environment alongside our ambitious research goals.

We look forward to many more opportunities to come together as a team, both inside and outside the laboratory.