The conversion of solar energy into fuels using water and CO2 has gained interest as a possible long-term, sustainable, and renewable source of energy. The key challenges to unlock this technology are to carry out this conversion using cheap, scalable, earth abundant materials that are highly efficient and stable for long periods of operation. The past 40 years of solar fuels research has provided fundamental insights into semiconductor and electrocatalyst physics and chemistry, and the time is ripe for developing scaled up devices and prototypes for this technology. This meeting is focused on bridging the fundamental science of solar fuels materials with up-scaling and reliability for technological development. Emphasis will be placed on fundamental understanding the semiconductor/electrocatalysts/electrolyte interfaces, especially using in-situ characterization techniques, as well as proto-type architectures for practical solar fuel devices. Finally, a technology road map for key materials and devices will be discussed to lead worldwide community to put collaborative and focuses efforts for this the most important issues in upcoming years.
- Semiconductor for photoelectrochemical Hydrogen production and CO2 conversion
- Photocatalyst for Hydrogen production and CO2 conversion
- Electrocatalysts for water splitting and CO2 reduction
- In-situ characterization of materials and interfaces
- Scale-up and architecture design of practical solar fuel devices
- Theoretical/computational methods for understanding reaction pathways
- Breaking volcano limit and scaling relationships in electro catalysis
- Membrane and Ion/gas Management in Solar Fuel
- New Concept of Hybrid Solar Fuel Device (Biointegrated/Redox Molecules Invovled)
- Economical Analysis and Strategy
Dr. Deutsch has been studying photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting since interning in Dr. John A. Turner’s lab at NREL in 1999 and 2000. He performed his graduate studies on III-V semiconductor water-splitting systems under the joint guidance of Dr. Turner and Prof. Carl A. Koval in the Chemistry Department at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Todd officially joined NREL as a postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Turner’s group in August 2006 and became a staff scientist two years later. He works on identifying and characterizing appropriate materials for generating hydrogen fuel from water using sunlight as the only energy input. Recently, his work has focused on inverted metamorphic multijunction III-V semiconductors and corrosion remediation strategies for high-efficiency water-splitting photoelectrodes. Todd has been honored as an Outstanding Mentor by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science nine times in recognition of his work as an advisor to more than 30 students in the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program at NREL.
James Durrant is Professor of Photochemistry in the Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London and Ser Cymru Solar Professor, University of Swansea. His research addresses the photochemistry of new materials for solar energy conversion targeting both solar cells (photovoltaics) and solar to fuel (i.e.: artificial photosynthesis. It is based around employing transient optical and optoelectronic techniques to address materials function, and thereby elucidate design principles which enable technological development. His group is currently addressing the development and functional characterisation of organic and perovskite solar cells and photoelectrodes for solar fuel generation. More widely, he leads Imperial's Centre for Processable Electronics, founded the UK�s Solar Fuels Network and led the Welsh government funded S�r Cymru Solar initiative. He has published over 500 research papers and 5 patents, and was recently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
Sophia Haussener is a Professor heading the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). Her current research is focused on providing design guidelines for thermal, thermochemical, and photoelectrochemical energy conversion reactors through multi-physics modelling and experimentation. Her research interests include: thermal sciences, fluid dynamics, charge transfer, electro-magnetism, and thermo/electro/photochemistry in complex multi-phase media on multiple scales. She received her MSc (2007) and PhD (2010) in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich. She was a postdoctoral researcher at the Joint Center of Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) between 2011 and 2012. She has published over 70 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and 2 books. She has been awarded the ETH medal (2011), the Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation award (2011), the ABB Forschungspreis (2012), the Prix Zonta (2015), the Global Change Award (2017), and the Raymond Viskanta Award (2019), and is a recipient of a Starting Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation (2014).
Marc T.M. Koper is Professor of Surface Chemistry and Catalysis at Leiden University, The Netherlands. He received his PhD degree (1994) from Utrecht University (The Netherlands) in the field of electrochemistry. He was an EU Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ulm (Germany) and a Fellow of Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) at Eindhoven University of Technology, before moving to Leiden University in 2005. His main research interests are in fundamental aspects of electrocatalysis, proton-coupled electron transfer, theoretical electrochemistry, and electrochemical surface science.
Kevin Sivula obtained a PhD in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley in 2007. In 2011, after leading a research group in the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at EPFL, he was appointed tenure track assistant professor. He now heads the Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Optoelectronic Nanomaterials (http://limno.epfl.ch) at EPFL.
This simposium will draw on some of the World's emerging experts in the fields of solution-processed inorganic, organic and hybrid thin film solar cells. The conference will present a balanced progress of solution-processed, thin film solar cells with the goal of address the efficiency, stability and scalability challenges associated with large-area photovoltaic and solar fuel technologies. Some examples include Perovskite, Quantum Dot, emerging earth-abundant absorbers, nano-crystalline semiconductors, organic systems and the challenges of incorporating third-generation solar harvesting concepts. The aim of this conference is to bring together scientists working on deposition techniques, characterization methods, device physics and performance, interfaces, scalability, sustainability and durability
- Frontier research in organic solar cells
- Perovskite and Chalcopyrite semiconductor materials
- Metal oxides for solar fuels
- Dye and Quantum dot solar cells
- Advanced characterization techniques to understand solar cells losses
- Bottlenecks in third generation photovoltaics for their commercialization
Education and Training University of Southampton, U.K., Chemistry with Electronics B.Sc. (honors), 1980 University of London, U.K., Molecular Photochemistry, Ph.D., 1984 Research and Professional Experience Laboratory Fellow. NREL, 2008�present Professor Adjoint. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2009�present Fellow. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, 2009�present Group Manager. Chemical and Biosciences Center, NREL, 2004�2009 Scientist. NREL, 2001�2008 Visiting Professor. Department of Chemistry, Imperial College, London, U.K., 2001-present Sabbatical Scientist. NREL, 1999�2001 Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader. Department of Chemistry, Imperial College, London, U.K., 1989�2001
Annamaria Petrozza received her PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 2008 with a thesis on the study of optoelectronic processes at organic and hybrid semiconductors interfaces under the supervision of Dr. J.S. Kim and Prof Sir R.H. Friend. From July 2008 to December 2009 she worked as research scientist at the Sharp Laboratories of Europe, Ltd on the development of new market competitive solar cell technologies (Dye Sensitized Solar cells/Colloidal Quantum Dots Sensitized Solar cells). Since January 2010 she has a Team Leader position at the Center for Nano Science and Technology -IIT@POLIMI. She is in charge of the development of photovoltaic devices and their characterization by time-resolved and cw Photoinduced Absorption Spectroscopy, Time-resolved Photoluminescence and electrical measurements. Her research work mainly aims to shed light on interfacial optoelectronic mechanisms, which are fundamental for the optimization of operational processes, with the goal of improving device efficiency and stability.
Natalie Stingelin (Stutzmann) FRSC is a Full Professor of Organic Functional Materials at the Georgia Institute of Technology, with prior positions at Imperial College London; the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge; the Philips Research Laboratories, Eindhoven; and ETH Zürich. She was an External Senior Fellow at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies and is Associate Editor of the RSC journal ‘Journal of Materials Chemistry C’. She was awarded the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining's Rosenhain Medal and Prize (2014) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) President's International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) Award for Visiting Scientists (2015); she was the Chair of the 2016 Gordon Conference on 'Electronic Processes in Organic Materials' as well as the Zing conference on ‘Organic Semiconductors’. She has published >160 papers and 6 issued patents. Her research interests encompass organic electronics & photonics, bioelectronics, physical chemistry of organic functional materials, and smart inorganic/organic hybrid systems.
Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals exhibit unique and highly tunable physical and chemical properties that make them very promising for application in opto-electronic devices and biological platforms. In these nanocrystals a large fraction of all atoms are located at surface or interface sites. These surface and interface atoms critically determine the outcome of nanocrystal synthesis, physical and chemical characteristics as well as the performance of quantum-dot based devices.
Understanding, controlling and adjusting the termination of nanocrystal surfaces has thus become a most exciting part of semiconductor nanocrystal research. Over the last 10 years, the joined pull-and-push by application development, where device performance invariably proves to be linked to surface termination, and new surface characterization methodologies has turned surface chemistry into an enabling science for colloidal quantum dot research. The NanoGe FQDots17 meeting will bring together scientists to discuss surface chemistry of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals in all its aspects, address challenges and identify future research directions.
- Experimental and theoretical studies on surface termination in semiconductor nanocrystals
- The effect of surface chemistry on nanocrystal synthesis and the formation of nanocrystal assemblies
- The impact of surface chemistry on the physical properties of nanocrystals and nanocrystal assemblies and the performance of nanocrystal based devices
- Advanced applications of colloidal nanocrystals made possible through surface chemistry such as (photo)catalysis and sensing
Arjan Houtepen obtained his PhD Cum Laude under supervision of prof. Vanmaekelbergh at Utrecht University and subsequently became tenure track assistant professor in Delft. In 2009/2010 he was a visiting scientist in the group of prof. Feldmann in Munich. At present he is associate professor in the optoelectronic materials section at Delft University.
Prof. Z. Hens received his PhD in applied physics from Ghent University in 2000, worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Utrecht University and was appointed professor at the Ghent University department of inorganic and physical chemistry in 2002. His research concerns the synthesis, processing and characterization of colloidal nanocrystals.
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Patanjali Kambhampati. BA Carleton College USA (1992), PHD University of Texas (USA) 1998, PDF University of Texas (USA) 1999 - 2001. Professor of Chemistry McGill University (2003 - present). Research focus of semiconductor nanostructures and femtosecond laser spectroscopy.
Maksym Kovalenko has been a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at ETH Zurich since July 2011 and Associate professor from January 2017. His group is also partially hosted by EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) to support his highly interdisciplinary research program. He completed graduate studies at Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria, 2004-2007, with Prof. Wolfgang Heiss), followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago (USA, 2008-2011, with Prof. Dmitri Talapin). His present scientific focus is on the development of new synthesis methods for inorganic nanomaterials, their surface chemistry engineering, and assembly into macroscopically large solids. His ultimate, practical goal is to provide novel inorganic materials for optoelectronics, rechargeable Li-ion batteries, post-Li-battery materials, and catalysis. He is the recipient of an ERC Consolidator Grant 2018, ERC Starting Grant 2012, Ruzicka Preis 2013 and Werner Prize 2016. He is also a Highly Cited Researcher 2018 (by Clarivate Analytics).
Joseph M. Luther obtained B.S. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2001. At NCSU he began his research career under the direction of Salah Bedair, who was the first to fabricate a tandem junction solar cell. Luther worked on growth and characterization high-efficiency III-V materials including GaN and GaAsN. His interest in photovoltaics sent him to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to pursue graduate work. He obtained a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado while researching effects of defects in bulk semiconductors in NREL�s Measurements and Characterization Division. In 2005, He joined Art Nozik�s group at NREL and studied semiconductor nanocrystals for multiple exciton generation for which he was awarded a Ph.D. in Physics from Colorado School of Mines. As a postdoctoral fellow, he studied fundamental synthesis and novel properties of nanomaterials under the direction Paul Alivisatos at the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In 2009, he rejoined NREL as a senior research scientist. His research interests lie in the growth, electronic coupling and optical properties of colloidal nanocrystals and quantum dots.
Jonathan Owen received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from CalTech. As a graduate student in the lab of Professor John Bercaw he studied the kinetics and mechanism of methane C-H activation. In 2005 he joined the lab of Professor Paul Alivisatos as a Petroleum Research Fund Alternative Energy Fellow to study the crystallization and derivatization of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals. In 2009 he joined the faculty at Columbia University as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry where his group continues to study the synthesis and surface chemistry of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals. For this work, he has received early career awards from the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, 3M, and DuPont.
Vanessa Wood is a professor in the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich, where she heads the Laboratory for Nanoelectronics. Before joining ETH in 2011, she was a postdoctoral associate in the laboratory of Professor Yet-Ming Chiang and Professor Craig Carter in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, performing research on novel lithium-ion battery systems. She received her MSc and PhD from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Her graduate work was done in the group of Professor Vladimir Bulović and focused on the development of optoelectronic devices containing colloidally synthesized quantum dots.
Since decades, 2-D semiconductors have been prepared by gas phase deposition techniques and incorporated in opto-electronic devices using lithography. More recently, 2-D quantum well layers have been molded into the honeycomb geometry by lithography and the use of nanostructured gates. Alternatively, nanostructured 2-D semiconductors have been prepared by nanocrystal self-assembly: With oriented attachment of nanocrystals, atomically coherent semiconductors can be prepared, with a superimposed square or honeycomb geometry.
The honeycomb geometry allows one to combine all good properties of a semiconductor (such as a 2 band gap) with valence and conduction bands that show a linear energy-wavevector dispersion relation, and thus massless carriers (as in graphene). It is thus of great interest to compare the properties of these new semiconductors with the conventional 2-D systems with parabolic bands. 2-D semiconductors with a honeycomb geometry show unseen properties; not only the Dirac-type bands, but due to spin-orbit coupling, also a quantum spin Hall edge effect and topological flat bands. This conference wishes to bring together researchers form the nanocrystal field, and of the classic and novel 2-D semiconductors to discuss the latest theoretical and experimental developments with a special focus to compare 2-D semiconductors with parabolic bands and a linear Dirac-type band structure.
- Synthesis of nanostructured semiconductors by nanocrystal assembly and oriented attachment Lithographic imprint of the honeycomb geometry in 2-D semiconductors
- Incorporation of self-assembled structures in opto-electronic devices
- Transport properties of nanostructured semiconductors
- Opto-electrical properties of Dirac systems vs. conventional parabolic semiconductors
- Topological electronic phases, such as the quantum spin Hall effect
Vanmaekelbergh's research started in the field of semiconductor electrochemistry in the 1980s; this later evolved into the electrochemical fabrication of macroporous semiconductors as the strongest light scatterers for visible light, and the study of electron transport in disordered (particulate) semiconductors. In the last decade, Vanmaekelbergh's interest shifted to the field of nanoscience: the synthesis of colloidal semiconductor quantum dots and self-assembled quantum-dot solids, the study of their opto-electronic properties with optical spectroscopy and UHV cryogenic Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy, and electron transport in electrochemically-gated quantum-dot solids. Scanning tunnelling spectroscopy is also used to study the electronic states in graphene quantum dots. More recently, the focus of the research has shifted to 2-D nano structured semiconductors, e.g. honeycomb semiconductors with Dirac-type electronic bands.
Alexander W. Achtstein studied Physics at University of Augsburg and Ludwigs Maximilians University Munich (LMU). He recieved a PhD from Technical University of Berlin in 2013. After a postdoc period at TU Delft he returned to TU Berlin. His research concentrates on the linear and nonlinear optical as well as electronic properties of 2D semiconductors, with a focus on II-VI nanosheets and transition metal dichalcogenides.
I obtained my PhD degree in applied physics at Ghent University in 2009, studying near-infrared lead salt quantum dots. This was followed by a postdoc on quantum dot emission dynamics at Ghent University in collaboration with the IBM Zurich research lab. In 2012 I joined the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, where I led the Nanocrystal Photonics Lab in the Nanochemistry Department. In 2017 I returned to Ghent University as associate professor, focusing mostly on 2D and strained nanocrystals. The research in our group ranges from the synthesis of novel fluorescent nanocrystals to optical spectroscopy and photonic applications.
Laurens Siebbeles (1963) is leader of the Opto-Electronic Materials Section and deputy head of the Dept. of Chemical Engineering at the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands. His research involves studies of the motion of electrons in novel nanostructured materials that have potential applications in e.g. solar cells, light-emitting diodes and nanoelectronics. Materials of interest include organic nanostructured materials, semiconductor quantum dots, nanorods and two-dimensional materials. Studies on charge and exciton dynamics are carried out using ultrafast time-resolved laser techniques and high-energy electron pulses in combination with quantum theoretical modeling.
One-atom thick bidimensional such as graphene and other nanomaterials (nanosheets) represent the physical limit of miniaturization of a surface and may exhibit unique physical and chemical properties. For this reason this type of materials are attracting increasing interest from the scientific and applied viewpoints. New fundamental phenomena can be observed for this materials and this can ultimately lead to the development of novel technology and faster and more powerful devices with application in many areas. The congress is intended to cover from any possible perspective all the way from the cradle to the commercialization of devices based on this bidimensional nanomaterials. With respect to the composition, the congress intends to cover graphene and related materials, but also other non-carbon containing 2D nanosheets such as allotropic forms of metal chalcogenides, metal chalcogenides and even layered double metal hydroxides. Aspects to be covered include from bottom-up and up-to-bottom synthesis of these materials, study of their properties, scientific applications in physical and chemical domains, technology related to industrial preparation of this material, and devices in microelectronics, photonics, spintronics, as sensors, with special emphasis in the sector of new energy management such as fuel cells, supercapacitors and batteries. This conference intends to become a forum to share knowledge on 2D material from various fields combining Physics, Chemistry and Biomedicine, from Physics to Chemistry and from fundamental research to commercialization.
- Synthesis of 2D Nanomaterials including bottom-up and top-to-bottom
- Different types of 2D Nanomaterials from graphenes and related carbon containing materials to elemental and transition-metal chalcogenides to layered double hydroxides
- Study of the physical properties of 2D Nanomaterials from mechanical resistance to optoelectronic properties
- Study of the chemical properties of 2D Nanomaterials from chemical modification to their use in catalysis
- Use of 2D Nanomaterials in Biomedicine including biocompatibility, use as carrier and in theragnosis
- Application of 2D Nanomaterials in new energy sources
- Application of 2D Nanomaterials in electronics
- Industrial and commercial aspects of 2D materials
Dra. Ana Primo Arnau
Research Group Leader, tenured Scientist. UPV, Valencia
Dr. Ana Primo earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Spain) in 2006. Following her doctoral studies, she undertook a postdoctoral stint at the Institute Charles Gerhardt in Montpellier, France, from 2007 to 2009. Currently, she holds a tenured position as a scientist at the “Instituto de Tecnología Química” (UPV-CSIC). Together with Professor Hermenegildo García, she founded the HG Energy Group, which she currently leads alongside Professor García.
Her research focuses on the synthesis of 2D materials such as graphene and boron nitride, exploring their applications in catalytic and photocatalytic processes. Notable among her investigations are CO2 reduction for methanol production and water splitting for hydrogen generation. With over 100 publications, Dr. Primo’s work has garnered more than 7,000 citations, reflecting her significant contributions to the field of chemistry, and she has an h-index of 44.
Dr. Zhu is a Professor of School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University. He received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering (1998) and Ph.D. degree in Materials Processing Engineering (2003) at Tsinghua University. After Post Doc. studies in Japan and USA, he began his independent career as a faculty member at Tsinghua University (2008~present). His research involves multi-scale synthesis and assembly, characterizations and applications of materials. He has authored 2 books and 6 invited book chapters, received 16 CN patents, 1 US patent and published 200+ papers with a H-index of 51.