Shaun McAnally

PhD Student in Materials Science

Portrait of Shaun McAnally

Bachelor of Advanced Science (Physics)
Hons I

s.mcanally@uq.edu.au

CV | UQ Researchers | LinkedIn

I have submitted my PhD thesis following doctoral research at the Centre for Organic Photonics & Electronics at The University of Queensland and am currently an intern at Microsoft Research in Cambridge.

My PhD research focused on developing simplified and scalable organic photovoltaic architectures using state-of-the-art organic semiconductor materials. I worked at the intersection of materials science, device physics and process engineering, with an emphasis on approaches that improve manufacturability, reproducibility and tolerance to fabrication variability.

A core theme of my work was the development of single-chromophore organic solar cells as an alternative to conventional bulk heterojunction devices. By controlling thin-film morphology and phase behaviour during solution processing, I demonstrated that efficient charge generation and balanced transport can be achieved in single-material active layers. Using the non-fullerene acceptor Y6, I showed that additive-assisted process control enables internal quantum efficiencies approaching 60% and power conversion efficiencies above 5%, while maintaining performance when scaling device area. This result marks a new performance record for single-chromophore organic solar cells.

Throughout my PhD I combined hands-on thin-film fabrication, vacuum deposition and process optimisation with optical modelling and electrical characterisation to guide device design and reduce empirical iteration. Earlier in my training, a First Class Honours project explored dilute-donor organic solar cells, reinforcing the importance of compositional simplicity for robust large-area fabrication. My accepted Honours thesis is available here.

Selected Publications

ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8454-1247

The Carbon Almanac | I was a developmental and copy editor for the first edition of this almanac which was produced by a global team of collaborators. We created an engaging and useful resource that was made to start informed discussion that leads to concrete action on the most pressing issue of our time. You can pick up a copy of this book here.

McAnally, S.; Brooks, E.; Jin, H.; Lindsay, O.; Burn, P. L.; Gentle, I. R.; Shaw, P. E. Y6 Homojunction Organic Solar Cells with Over 5% Power Conversion Efficiency by Controlling the Active Layer Morphology. Advanced Energy Materials 2025, e04807, 10.1002/aenm.202504807.

McAnally, S.; Brooks, E.; Lindsay, O.; Burn, P. L.; Gentle, I. R.; Shaw, P. E. High‐Efficiency Y6 Homojunction Organic Solar Cells Enabled by a Secondary Hole Transport Layer. Small 2025, 2409485, 10.1002/smll.202409485.

Jin, H.; Mallo, N.; Zhang, G.; Lindsay, O.; Chu, R.; Gao, M.; McAnally, S.; Etchells, I. M.; Burn, P. L.; Gentle, I. R.; Shaw, P. E. Switching From Acceptor to FRET Donor: How the Organic Solar Cell Architecture Can Change the Role of a Chromophore. Adv Funct Materials 2025, 2420416, 10.1002/adfm.202420416.

Mallo, N.; McAnally, S.; Jin, H.; Brooks, E.; Chu, R.; Babazadeh, M.; Smyth, J.; Huang, D. M.; Hight‐Huf, N.; Reid, O. G.; Rumbles, G.; Burn, P. L.; Gentle, I. R.; Shaw, P. E. Free‐Charge Carrier Generation in Homojunction Non‐Polymeric Organic Semiconductor Films – The Role of the Optical Frequency Dielectric Constant. Advanced Optical Materials 2024, 2401825, 10.1002/adom.202401825.

McAnally, S.; Buczynski, J.; Kavanagh, L. Student Led Observations for Course Improvement (SLOCI): Closing the Loop in Course Enhancement. IJSaP 2024, 8 (2), 95–106, 10.15173/ijsap.v8i2.5578.

Gao, M.; McAnally, S.; Jin, H.; Burn, P. L.; Pivrikas, A.; Shaw, P. E. Free carrier generation efficiency in organic photovoltaic films determined using photo-MIS-CELIV. Organic Electronics 2024, 10.1016/j.orgel.2024.107137.

McAnally, S.; Jin, H.; Chu, R.; Mallo, N.; Wang, X.; Burn, P. L.; Gentle, I. R.; Shaw, P. E. Dilute Donor Organic Solar Cells Based on Non-Fullerene Acceptors. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2024, 10.1021/acsami.4c02864.

Mallo, N.; McAnally, S.; Jin, H.; Babazadeh, M.; Packman, L.; Chu, R.; Burn, P. L.; Gentle, I. R.; Shaw, P. E. The Effect of Fluorinated Benzothiadiazole-Dicyanovinyl Acceptors on the Dielectric Constants of Organic Photovoltaic Materials. ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2024, 10.1021/acsaem.4c00140.

Mallo, N.; McAnally, S.; Chu, R.; Babazadeh, M.; Jin, H.; Burn, P. L.; Gentle, I. R.; Shaw, P. E. The Effect of Fluorination on the Low and High Frequency Dielectric Constants of Non-Polymeric Organic Semiconductors – towards Homojunction Solar Cells. J. Mater. Chem. C 2023, 10.1039/D3TC02740F.