Lorelle Mansfield is a Scientist in the Thin Film Material Science & Processing group at NREL. Her current work focuses on Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) thin films for photovoltaic applications. In particular, she is developing rapid two-step selenization processes for high-efficiency solar cells. Dr. Mansfield joined NREL in 2009 as a postdoctoral researcher after she received her doctorate in materials science from the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) in Golden, Colorado. Early in her graduate career, she fabricated and tested CdTe thin-film solar cells at CSM. Her final dissertation project was conducted at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado. It covered growth and characterization of GaN nanowires, and included designing and building a UHV materials deposition system.

Research Interests

Other topics of interest include enhancing the Voc of CIGS devices through alkali post-deposition treatments, increasing the Ga content, and band gap grading. While at NREL, she has also deposited CIGS on novel substrates using low-temperature co-evaporation processes and explored alkali doping of CIGS through Na-containing back contacts.

Education

Ph.D., Materials Science, Colorado School of Mines 

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