Dr Oliver Hutter

Assistant Professor

School: Engineering, Physics and Mathematics

I joined Northumbria University in 2020 as a Senior ViceChancellor’s Fellow in the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering.

Prior to this, I completed my PhD in Chemistry at the University of Warwick with a thesis entitled “Nanostructured Copper Electrodes for Organic Photovoltaics” in 2015. I then worked at the University of Liverpool in the Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy from 2015-2020 specialising in photovoltaics.

My research interests lie in emerging materials for thin films solar cells and solar fuel applications. This involves fabricating and characterising photovoltaic devices, and the investigation of the properties of these fascinating materials such as antimony selenide, cadmium telluride, CZTSSe, perovskite materials and organic semiconductors.

Self-funded PhD candidates, CSC scholarship candidates and visiting PhD students are welcomed, please get in touch.

Please also get in touch regarding potential collaborations.

Email Oliver

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

I joined Northumbria University in 2020 as a Senior ViceChancellor’s Fellow in the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering.

Prior to this, I completed my PhD in Chemistry at the University of Warwick with a thesis entitled “Nanostructured Copper Electrodes for Organic Photovoltaics” in 2015. I then worked at the University of Liverpool in the Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy from 2015-2020 specialising in photovoltaics.

My research interests lie in emerging materials for thin films solar cells and solar fuel applications. This involves fabricating and characterising photovoltaic devices, and the investigation of the properties of these fascinating materials such as antimony selenide, cadmium telluride, CZTSSe, perovskite materials and organic semiconductors.

Self-funded PhD candidates, CSC scholarship candidates and visiting PhD students are welcomed, please get in touch.

Please also get in touch regarding potential collaborations.

Key Publications

Reduced Temperature Solid-State Synthesis of Barium Sulfide: A Greener Alternative, Tetlow, W., Hutter, O., Etherington, M., Longo, G. 8 Dec 2025, In: RSC Advances
TiO2 Electron Transport Layers Through Photonic Curing for Sb2Se3 Solar Cells, Wijesinghe, U., Longo, G., Punathil, P., Barrioz, V., Hutter, O. 19 Nov 2025, In: Solar RRL
Understanding Local Crystallography in Solar Cell Absorbers with Scanning Electron Diffraction, Griesi, A., Ivanov, Y., Fairclough, S., Valluvar Oli, A., Kusch, G., Oliver, R., De Padova, P., Ottaviani, C., Wijesinghe, U., Siebentritt, S., Di Carlo, A., Hutter, O., Longo, G., Divitini, G. 1 Nov 2025, In: Small Methods
Zn1−xMg xO thin films as a sustainable layer for CZTSSe solar cells, Punathil, P., Campbell, S., Kartopu, G., Maiello, P., Hutter, O., Barrioz, V., Beattie, N., Zoppi, G. 1 Jul 2025, In: Journal of Physics: Energy
Correction to “Crystalline Antimony Selenide Thin Films for Optoelectronics through Photonic Curing”, Wijesinghe, U., Tetlow, W., Maiello, P., Fleck, N., O'Dowd, G., Beattie, N., Longo, G., Hutter, O. 10 Dec 2024, In: Chemistry of Materials
Crystalline Antimony Selenide Thin Films for Optoelectronics through Photonic Curing, Wijesinghe, U., Tetlow, W., Maiello, P., Fleck, N., O'Dowd, G., Beattie, N., Longo, G., Hutter, O. 25 Jun 2024, In: Chemistry of Materials
Low-Temperature, Low-Environmental-Impact Synthesis of Barium Sulphide for Perovskite Applications, Tetlow, W., Longo, G., Etherington, M., Hutter, O. 16 Dec 2024, Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2025 Conference (MATSUSSpring25), Valencia, Spain, Fundació Scito
Photovoltaic Efficiency Enhancement through Highly Crystalline Antimony Selenide Interface Engineering, Wijesinghe, U., Longo, G., Hutter, O. 16 Dec 2024, Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2025 Conference (MATSUSSpring25), Valencia, Spain, Fundació Scito
Defect engineering in antimony selenide thin film solar cells, Wijesinghe, U., Longo, G., Hutter, O. 1 Jan 2023, In: Energy Advances
High temperature equilibrium of 3D and 2D chalcogenide perovskites, Longo, G., Whalley, L., Holland, A., Tiwari, D., Durose, K., Hutter, O., Kayastha, P. 1 May 2023, In: Solar RRL

PGR Supervision

Udari Punchirala Arachchige Advancing Antimony Selenide Photovoltaics: Novel Strategies for Material Processing and Interface Engineering Start Date: 01/10/2021 End Date: 17/10/2025
Udari Punchirala Arachchige Advancing Antimony Selenide Photovoltaics: Novel Strategies for Material Processing and Interface Engineering Start Date: 01/10/2021 End Date: 07/12/2025