We investigate the electronic structure of complex materials for the next generation of optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications as well as of electron sources.

We study the evolution of halide perovskites from solution species to thin films in the project GLIMPSE within the DFG Priority Program 2196.  

We also study the degradation mechanisms of battery materials in the framework of the framwork of the AQua cluster (Batterieforschung in Deutschland) fianced by BMBF.

Ongoing research in this direction includes also the characterization of the electronic structure of multi-alkali antimonides and tellurides as photocathode materials for particle accelerators.

Relevant Publications

• C. Cocchi and H.-D. Saßnick, Ab initio quantum-mechanical predictions of semiconducting photocathode materials, Micromachines 12, 1002 (2021).
• H.-D. Saßnick and C. Cocchi, Electronic Structure of Cesium-based Photocathode Materials from Density Functional Theory: Performance of PBE, SCAN, and HSE06 functionals, Electronic Stucture, 3, 027001 (2021).
• R. Amador, H.-D. Saßnick, and C. Cocchi, Electronic structure and optical properties of Na₂KSb and NaK₂Sb from first-principles many-body theory, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 33, 365502 (2021).
• A. M. Valencia, O. Shargaieva, R. Schier, E. Unger, and C. Cocchi, Optical Fingerprints of Polynuclear Complexes in Lead Halide Perovskite Precursor Solutions, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 12, 2299 (2021).
• C. Cocchi, X-ray absorption fingerprints from Cs atoms in Cs₃Sb, Physica Status Solidi – RRL 4, 2000194 (2020).
• C. Cocchi, S. Mistry, M. Schmeißer, R. Amador, J. Kühn, and T. Kamps, Electronic structure and core electron fingerprints of caesium-based multi-alkali antimonides for ultra-bright electron sources, Scientific Reports 9, 18276 (2019).
• C. Cocchi, S. Mistry, M. Schmeißer, J. Kühn, and T, Kamps, First-principles many-body study of the electronic and optical properties of CsK₂Sb, a semiconducting material for ultra-bright electron sources, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 31, 014002 (2018).