2018 Graduate Achievement Award recipient
A member of Professor Jared Delcamp’s Renewable Energy Research Lab, Nalaka researches pancromatic organic dye synthesis for dye-sensitized solar cells and synthesis of organometallic complexes for photocatalitic CO2 reduction. The dyes they developed are capable of absorbing the whole range of the visible spectrum and can convert photon energy to electricity with up to 8% conversion efficiency and perform well in low light conditions as well. The photocatalysts they developed can directly convert solar energy to chemical energy in an efficient way. Nalaka, originally from Sri Lanka, presents his research results at national conferences and publishes papers in highly rated peer reviewed journals such as Inorganic Chemistry, Journal of Organic Chemistry, and Chemical Communications.