Enabling solar as a primary energy source requires not only efficient conversion devices but also the ability store energy in molecular bonds – i.e. solar fuels. This symposium will provide an interdisciplinary forum for discussion between materials scientists, physicists, chemists, and device engineers whose common goal is to advance the applications of emerging materials and molecular system in efficient and robust solar fuel production. Topics of interest include but are not limited to photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic approaches for water splitting or CO2 reduction. Interfacial band-edge energetics and aspects of catalysis and charge transfer will be particularly emphasized. Emerging novel materials, molecular systems and hybrid approaches will be highlighted. Both computational and experimental contributions will be welcomed as well as presentations on predictive and/or high-throughput screening techniques. Device engineering and systems development will be included.
- Materials and molecular science for photoelectrochemical fuel production
- Catalysis and mechanistic aspects
- Mechanisms of light harvesting and charge separation
- Simulation and computational approaches
- Devices and system design
Shannon Boettcher is currently an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at the University of Oregon. His research interests center on developing materials for solar energy conversion and storage. Current efforts focus on the synthesis and study of heterogeneous electrocatalysts with precise molecular and nanoscale structures, the development of alternative deposition routes for high-performance III-V semiconductors such as GaAs, and on understanding the details of interfaces between semiconductors and electrocatalysts in oxygen and hydrogen evolving photoelectrodes. Boettcher received his B.A. in Chemistry at the University of Oregon in 2003 where he was a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar. He received his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry with Galen Stucky at UC Santa Barbara in 2008 where he was an NSF Graduate Research and UC Chancellor's Fellow. As a Kavli Nanoscience Institute Prize Postdoctoral Scholar, he studied three-dimensional Si structures for solar energy conversion and storage at the California Institute of Technology working with Nate Lewis and Harry Atwater. In 2010, he joined the Chemistry Department at the University of Oregon and in 2011 was named one of 18 DuPont Young Professors worldwide.
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.
Vincent Artero was born in 1973. He is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Ulm; D/S 93) and of the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6). He received the Ph.D. degree in 2000 under the supervision of Prof. A. Proust. His doctoral work dealt with organometallic derivatives of polyoxometalates. After a postdoctoral stay at the University of Aachen (Aix la Chapelle) with Prof. U. Kölle, he joined in 2001 the group of Prof. M. Fontecave in Grenoble with a junior scientist position in the Life Science Division of CEA. Since 2016, he is Research Director at CEA and leads the SolHyCat group. His current research interests are in bio-inspired chemistry including catalysis related to hydrogen energy and artificial photosynthesis.
Vincent Artero received the "Grand Prix Mergier-Bourdeix de l'Académie des Sciences" in 2011 and has been granted with a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC, photocatH2ode project 2012-2017). He's a member of the Young academy of Europe (YAE). He currently acts as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the ARCANE Excellence Laboratory Network (LABEX) for bio-driven chemistry in Grenoble and as co-head of the French network (CNRS-Groupement de recherche) on Solar Fuels. Since 2016, Vincent Artero is associate editor of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal "Sustainable Energy and Fuels". From January 2018 onward, he actsas associate editor of the Royal Society of Chemistry flagship journal "Chemical Science"
This additional meeting day will be an extension of the Solar Fuel 18 Symposium with a similar focus. Presentations on this day will mainly be contributed by the work conducted in the framework of the priority program SPP 1613 of the German research foundation DFG focusing on
“Fuels Produced Regeneratively Through Light-Driven Water Splitting: Clarification of the Elemental Processes Involved and Prospects for Implementation in Technological Concepts”.
Short title: SolarH2
- Advanced Electrocatalysts
- Novel Photabsorbers
- Device development
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Jaegermann: Curriculum Vitae Wolfram Jaegermann, born 1954, studied Chemistry at the University of Dortmund and got his Ph.-D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Bielefeld, Germany. Afterwards he started his scientifc career as a Post-Doc at the Hahn-Meitner-Institute in Berlin in Photoelectrochemistry. He spent one year as DuPont Guest Scientist in Wilmington, Deleware, before he got his Habilitation in Physical Chemistry at the Free University of Berlin. Afterwards he was appointed Head of Department of Interfaces at the Hahn-Meitner-Institute, before in 1997 he became Full Professor with the chair of Surface Science, in the newly founded Department of Materials Science, TU Darmstadt. His main research fields are: Surface Science, Photovoltaic Converters, Intercalation Batteries, Inorganic/Organic Composites, Semiconductor Interfaces, Photoelectrochemistry.
born
Dr. Roland Marschall obtained his PhD in Physical Chemistry from the Leibniz University Hannover in 2008, working on mesoporous materials for fuel cell applications. After a one year postdoctoral research at the University of Queensland in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials, he joined in 2010 the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC as project leader. In 2011, he joined the Industrial Chemistry Laboratory at Ruhr-University Bochum as young researcher. Since 07/2013, he is Emmy-Noether Young Investigator at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. His current research interests are heterogeneous photocatalysis, especially photocatalytic water splitting using semiconductor mixed oxides, and synthesis of oxidic mesostructured materials for energy applications. In 2014, he received the ADUC habilitation award for best German young research group leader.
Matthias May studied physics in Stuttgart, Grenoble, and Berlin, with a focus on condensed matter and computational physics. In his diploma thesis (2010), he investigated charge-density wave phase transitions using photoelectron spectroscopy. For his PhD studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin on III-V semiconductors for solar water splitting, he won a scholarship of Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. He received his PhD end of 2014 and worked in his first postdoctoral position on high-efficiency water splitting. From 2016 to 2018, he was postdoctoral fellow at the Chemistry Department of the University of Cambridge, funded by the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, modelling optical properties of solid-liquid interfaces. His main scientific interests lie in the area of highly correlated electron systems and semiconductor-interfaces, both from an experimental and modelling perspective.
Prof. Christina Scheu has a diploma degree in physics and did her doctorate at the Max-Planck-Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart (Germany) in the field of material science. She spent two years as a Minerva Fellow at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology – in Haifa, Israel. 2008 she was appointed as a full professor at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University (Munich, Germany). Since April 2014 she holds a joint position as a full professor at the RWTH Aachen, and as an independent group leader at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH (MPIE) in Düsseldorf Germany. Her expertise is the structural and chemical analysis of functional materials with ex-situ and in-situ transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy and correlation to optical, electronic and electrochemical properties. The investigated materials range from (photo)catalyst for hydrogen production to electrodes and membranes for polymer based fuel cells.
Quantum confined semiconductor nanocrystals (0D quantum dots, 1D quantum rods and 2D quantum Wells) are new classes of materials with many potental applications ranging from light emitting diodes to solar energy conversion. These applications require fundamental understanding of elementary exciton and charge dynamical processes in these materials. These dynamics include Forster and Dexter energy transfer, charge transfer, charge/exciton transport, mulitple exciton generaton, and multi-exciton dissociation, hot electron transfer, single fission and upconversion. This symposium is aimed at bringing together experimentalist and theoreticians who are investigating various fundamental processes in quantum confined nanomaterials. It will provide a forum for discussing the latest scientific discovery in these exciting research áreas.
- Exciton dissociation
- Exciton Transport
- Lasing
- Solar Cells
- Hot carrier extraction
- Artificial photosynthesis
1. Personal details Prof. Dr. Mischa Bonn Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research Ackermannweg 10 D-55128 Mainz Male; born, 25/01/71, Nijmegen (NL), married +1. Nationality: Dutch (NL) 2. Education Undergraduate: University of Amsterdam; MSc in Physical Chemistry (highest honors), 10/05/93 Graduate: AMOLF / University of Eindhoven; PhD in Physical Chemistry, 18/12/96 Postdoctoral: Fritz Haber (Max Planck) Institut (Wolf/Ertl group), Berlin, Germany, 1997�1999 Postdoctoral: Columbia University (Heinz group) NY, USA, 1998-2001 (totaling ~6 months). 3. Appointments 4/2011-present Director at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany 5/2013-present Honorary Professor (Chemistry Dept.) University of Mainz 6/2005�present Extraordinary Professor (Physics Dept.) University of Amsterdam 1/2004�3/2012 Group Leader at FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics 1/2003�1/2004 Scientific Advisor at FOM-Institute for Plasma Physics �Rijnhuizen� 1/2003�9/2009 Associate professor (tenured) at Leiden University (Chemistry Dept.) 8/1999�12/2002 Assistant professor (fixed term) at Leiden University (Chemistry Dept.)
Amirav is an expert in the use of hybrid nanostructures for renewable energy generation, in particular photocatalytic solar-to-fuel conversion. She has demonstrated success in designing sophisticated heterostructures for the water reduction half reaction. She is particularly interested in photocatalysis on the nano scale and related photophysical and photochemical phenomena. The laboratory’s cutting-edge synthetic effort is combined with development of nontraditional techniques for mechanistic study of charge transfer pathways, and fundamental research on reaction mechanism.
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 tenured assistant professor in the optoelectronic materials section at Delft University and guest professor in the Physics and Chemistry of Nanostructures group at Ghent University.
Victor I. Klimov is a Fellow of Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Director of the Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics of the U.S. Department of Energy. He received his M.S. (1978), Ph.D. (1981), and D.Sc. (1993) degrees from Moscow State University. He is a Fellow of both the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America, and a recipient of the Humboldt Research Award. His research interests include optical spectroscopy of semiconductor and metal nanostructures, carrier relaxation processes, strongly confined multiexcitons, energy and charge transfer, and fundamental aspects of photovoltaics.
Christian Klinke studied physics at the University of Karlsruhe (Germany) where he also obtained his diploma degree in the group of Thomas Schimmel. In March 2000 he joined the group of Klaus Kern at the Institute of Experimental Physics of the EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland). Then from 2003 on he worked as Post-Doc at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center (Yorktown Heights, USA) in the group of Phaedon Avouris. In 2006 then he became member of the Horst Weller group at the Universitiy of Hamburg (Germany). In 2007 he started as assistant professor at the University of Hamburg. In 2009 he received the German Nanotech Prize (Nanowissenschaftspreis, AGeNT-D/BMBF). His research is supported by an ERC Starting Grant 2012. Since 2013 he is a Heisenberg fellow of the German Funding Agency DFG.
Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals have become a novel class of opto-electronic materials that offer a unique combination of scientific interest and technological appeal. In particular, the combination of size-dependent properties, in part due to quantum confinement, and versatile, solution-based processing, makes nanocrystals ever more attractive for technology development.
Here, nanophotonics is a case in point. Emitting, manipulating and detecting light in, possibly, integrated micro- and nanoscale devices and down to the single photon level holds exceptional promise for data communication, display and lighting, imaging, and sensing and analysis. Achieving this, however, relies on multidisciplinary research at the cross-roads of nanomaterials and nanophotonics, that combines the synthesis and analysis of new nanomaterials, the development of process technologies and the formation and testing of nanophotonic devices for emitting and detecting light down to the single photon level.
This international symposium focuses on the latest developments in nanophotonics by nanocrystals from both a materials and a device perspective, and aims at outlining future directions for the field. Therefore, it will bring together scientists with backgrounds in nanocrystal chemistry, opto-electronics, nanophotonic devices, and single-photon emission and detection around a program with invited and contributed talks and a poster session.
- Chemistry of Semiconductor Nanocrystals – new materials (0D nanocrystals, 2D materials), new synthesis methods, surface chemistry.
- Nanocrystals Process Technology – functional nanocrystal films, patterned deposition, device integration.
- Nanocrystal Opto-Electronics – light-emission and light absorption, stimulated emission and optical gain, single photon emission
- Nanophotonic Devices – nanocrystals in cavities; strong coupling, nanocrystal lasers, nanocrystals photodetectors
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.
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 tenured assistant professor in the optoelectronic materials section at Delft University and guest professor in the Physics and Chemistry of Nanostructures group at Ghent University.
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 rechargeable Li-ion batteries, photovoltaics, and optoelectronics. He is the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant 2012, Ruzicka Preis 2013 and Werner Prize 2016
The fundamental phenomena related to charge carrier dynamics at the nanoscale are tremendously important for a range of scientific disciplines and potential technological applications. Moreover, understanding charge transfer and its connections to structural dynamics with microscopic detail in organic and inorganic nano- and bulk systems is a key to further optimizing functional devices (used in, e.g. photovoltaics, batteries, sensors, molecular electronics, catalysts). The CCDNano meeting will convene experts with different scientific backgrounds to foster interdisciplinary discussions and collaborations. We expect that this will provide a platform to share and advance methodologies and theories from different fields. Ultimately, the aim of the conference is to go beyond the walls separating traditional scientific disciplines such as chemistry, physics, biology and engineering to reveal the nature of charge transfer, recombination and transport processes at the nanoscale.The fundamental phenomena related to charge carrier dynamics at the nanoscale are tremendously important for a range of scientific disciplines and potential technological applications. Moreover, understanding charge transfer and its connections to structural dynamics with microscopic detail in organic and inorganic nano- and bulk systems is a key to further optimizing functional devices (used in, e.g. photovoltaics, batteries, sensors, molecular electronics, catalysts). The CCDNano meeting will convene experts with different scientific backgrounds to foster interdisciplinary discussions and collaborations. We expect that this will provide a platform to share and advance methodologies and theories from different fields. Ultimately, the aim of the conference is to go beyond the walls separating traditional scientific disciplines such as chemistry, physics, biology and engineering to reveal the nature of charge transfer, recombination and transport processes at the nanoscale.
- Colloidal Quantum Dots
- Organic and Hybrid Photovoltaics
- Molecular Electronics
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 tenured assistant professor in the optoelectronic materials section at Delft University and guest professor in the Physics and Chemistry of Nanostructures group at Ghent University.
Laura Herz is a Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford. She received her PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge in 2002 and was a Research Fellow at St John's College Cambridge from 2001 - 2003 after which she moved to Oxford. Her research interests lie in the area of organic and organic/inorganic hybrid semiconductors including aspects such as self-assembly, nano-scale effects, energy-transfer and light-harvesting for solar energy conversion.
He studied electrical engineering in Stuttgart and started working on Si solar cells in 2004 under the guidance of Uwe Rau at the Institute for Physical Electronics (ipe) in Stuttgart. After finishing his undergraduate studies in 2006, he continued working with Uwe Rau first in Stuttgart and later in J�lich on simulations and electroluminescence spectroscopy of solar cells. After finishing his PhD in 2009 and 1.5 years of postdoc work in J�lich, Kirchartz started a three year fellowship at Imperial College London working on recombination mechanisms in organic solar cells with Jenny Nelson. In 2013, he returned to J�lich and accepted a position as head of a new activity on hybrid and organic solar cells in J�lich and simultaneously as Professor for �Photovoltaics with Nanostructured Materials� in the department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the University Duisburg-Essen. Kirchartz has published 58 isi-listed papers, has co-edited one book on characterization of thin-film solar cells and currently has an h-index of 20.
Solution-processable two-dimensional nanomaterials (nanosheets) are attracting increasing research efforts due to their extraordinary electronic, phononic, optical and mechanical properties, which makes them promising materials for a myriad of applications (spintronic devices, field-effect transistors, nanoscale sensors, batteries, photodetectors, LEDs). 2D materials can be obtained by exfoliation of bulk materials or grown on substrates by MBE or CVD. However, these methods are not suitable to produce large amounts of free-standing 2D nanosheets and lack control over their shape and lateral dimensions. Solution-based "bottom-up" colloidal chemical methods offer an appealing alternative, and are emerging as promising routes for fundamental insight as well as for industrial applications. This conference intends to bring together the multidisciplinary scientific community working on this nascent field, and will address not only the bottom-up solution synthesis of 2D nanomaterials, but also their chemistry, physics and applications in devices.
- Solution-based bottom-up synthesis of 2D nanomaterials (colloidal methods, exfoliation, metal-organic approaches)
- Physical properties of solution-based 2D nanomaterials (spectroscopy, thermoelectrics, mechanical and electronic properties, electron and spin transport)
- Chemical properties of solution-based 2D nanomaterials (chemical stability, chemical self-organization, photocatalytic activity)
- Self-organization of 2D nanomaterials into superstructures
- Devices based on solution-processed 2D nanomaterials (tranistors, solar cells)
- Theory of 2D materials (DOS, optical properties, growth mechanisms)
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Christian Klinke studied physics at the University of Karlsruhe (Germany) where he also obtained his diploma degree in the group of Thomas Schimmel. In March 2000 he joined the group of Klaus Kern at the Institute of Experimental Physics of the EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland). Then from 2003 on he worked as Post-Doc at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center (Yorktown Heights, USA) in the group of Phaedon Avouris. In 2006 then he became member of the Horst Weller group at the Universitiy of Hamburg (Germany). In 2007 he started as assistant professor at the University of Hamburg. In 2009 he received the German Nanotech Prize (Nanowissenschaftspreis, AGeNT-D/BMBF). His research is supported by an ERC Starting Grant 2012. Since 2013 he is a Heisenberg fellow of the German Funding Agency DFG.






Bio Professional Preparation M.S. in Chemistry, with Honours, University of Bari, Italy, 1996 Ph.D. in Chemistry, University of Bari, Italy, 2001 Research interests Prof. L. Manna is an expert of synthesis and assembly of colloidal nanocrystals. His research interests span the advanced synthesis, structural characterization and assembly of inorganic nanostructures for applications in energy-related areas, in photonics, electronics and biology.
David J. Norris is currently the Director of the Optical Materials Engineering Laboratory and Professor of Materials Engineering at ETH Zurich. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from the University of Chicago (1990) and MIT (1995), respectively. After an NSF postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, he joined the NEC Research Institute in Princeton in 1997 where he led a photonics research group. He then became an Associate Professor (2001-2006) and Professor (2006-2010) of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. In 2010, he moved to his current position at ETH Zurich. Prof. Norris is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the Golden Owl award at ETH in 2012 for excellence in teaching. He was awarded an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (2014-2019). In 2015, he was the recipient of the Max R�ssler Prize.
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.
Celso de Mello Donega is an Associate Professor in the Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. His expertise is in the field of synthesis and optical spectroscopy of luminescent materials. His research is focused on the chemistry and optoelectronic properties of nanomaterials, with particular emphasis on colloidal nanocrystals and heteronanocrystals.
Hybrid organic-inorganic metal halide perovskites have recently emerged as exciting new light-harvesting and charge-transporting materials for efficient photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices. This Symposium focuses on a discussion of fundamental optoelectronic properties that underpin the extraordinary properties of these materials.
The design of new materials requires a clear understanding of links between structural (lattice) effects and electronic properties, which give rise to intriguing effects in these perovskites. Optimized charge extraction and injection require an evaluation of charge-carrier dynamics, mobilities and excitonic effects. In addition, charge-carrier trapping, current-voltage hysteresis and photoinduced halide segregation are linked with lattice defects and ionic motion through the perovskite under the influence of electric fields and photon absorption.
This Symposium will allow for stimulating discussion of such effects, aiding the advancement of hybrid perovskite devices through improved understanding of the fundamental processes governing these materials.
- Theoretical modeling and computational simulation
- Origin and nature of defect states
Laura Herz is a Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford. She received her PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge in 2002 and was a Research Fellow at St John's College Cambridge from 2001 - 2003 after which she moved to Oxford. Her research interests lie in the area of organic and organic/inorganic hybrid semiconductors including aspects such as self-assembly, nano-scale effects, energy-transfer and light-harvesting for solar energy conversion.
Dr. Tze-Chien Sum is an Associate Professor at the Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) where he leads the Femtosecond Dynamics Laboratory. He is presently the Associate Dean (Research) at the College of Science. Tze-Chien received his Ph.D. in Physics from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2005, for the work in proton beam writing and ion-beam spectroscopy. His present research focuses on investigating light matter interactions; energy and charge transfer mechanisms; and probing carrier and quasi-particle dynamics in a broad range of emergent nanoscale and light harvesting systems. Tze-Chien received a total of 11 teaching awards from NUS and NTU, including the coveted Nanyang Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2006 and the 2010 SPMS Teaching Excellence Honour Roll Award. Most recently, he received the 2013 SPMS Young Researcher Award; the Institute of Physics Singapore 2014 World Scientific Medal and Prize for Outstanding Physics Research; the 2014 Nanyang Award for Research Excellence (Team); and the 2015 Chemical Society of Japan Asian International Symposium Distinguished Lectureship Award. More information can be found at http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/tzechien/spms/index.html
Filippo De Angelis is senior research scientist and a deputy director at the CNR Institute of Molecular Sciences and Technology, in Perugia, Italy. He is the founder and leader of the Computational Laboratory for Hybrid/Organic Photovoltaics. He earned a BS in Chemistry in 1996 and a PhD in Theoretical Inorganic Chemistry in 1999, both from the University of Perugia. He is an expert in the development and application of quantum mechanical methods to the study of hybrid/organic photovoltaics and materials for energy applications. He is Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences. He has published >270 papers with > 17000 citations.
This symposium aims to act as a forum for the rapidly expanding and multidisciplinary community of scientists engaged in modelling perovskite solar cells. Research challenges to be addressed include the influence of materials and morphology, triple cation perovskites, 0D to 3D perovskites, the development of lead-free and all organic materials, carrier selective contact layers, phase changes, ion migration, hysteresis, thermal and moisture instability, mechanical flexibility. Modelling at any length scale is within scope. Contributions should have a significant modelling element but can also include experimental validation. Early career researchers are especially encouraged.
- Microscopic electronic structure models of perovskite materials
- Molecular dynamics simulations
- Charge transport at the mesoscale
- Device models
- Tandem devices and modules
- Interfaces
- Organo-metal halides including mixed halides
- All inorganic perovskites
- Lead free perovskites
- Hysteresis and degradation
Juan A. Anta is Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain. He obtained a BA in Chemistry in the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Spain and carried out his PhD research at the Physical Chemistry Institut of the National Research Council of Spain. In 1997 and 1998 he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Theoretical Chemistry of the University of Oxford and from mid 1999 to mid 2000 he was research assistant at the Department of Chemistry of the Imperial College, London. His research focuses on solar cell modelling, random-walk methods applied to electron transport in nanostructured devices and disordered semiconductors, and device modeling in Dye-sensitised and perovskite solar cells




Claudine Katan (born Hoerner) received her Ph.D. in physics (nonlinear optics) from the University of Strasbourg (ULP), France in 1992. She subsequently served as a lecturer in physics at the University of Rennes (UR1), France, before being appointed as a CNRS Research Investigator in the Physics Department at Rennes in 1993. Until 2003, her research interests concerned the properties of molecular charge-transfer crystals and the topology of electron densities mainly through approaches based on density functional theory (e.g. the CP-PAW code by P. E. Blöchl, IBM-Zurich). She then joined the Chemistry Department at Rennes and turned her research interests toward the structural, electronic and linear/nonlinear optical properties of molecular and supramolecular chromophores using various theoretical approaches—from modeling to state-of-the-art electronic structure calculations (e.g. CEO methodology by S. Tretiak, LANL) . Since the end of 2010, her research has also been devoted to 3D and 2D crystalline materials of the family of halide perovskites based on solid-state physics concepts. Overall, her theoretical work is closely related to the experimental research developed in-house and by international collaborators.


Ursula Rothlisberger was born in Switzerland and obtained her diploma in Physical Chemistry from the University of Bern. She earned her Ph.D. degree at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in R�schlikon. From 1992�1995, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow, first at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (USA) and then at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Physics in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1996, she moved as a Profile 2 Fellow of the National Science Foundation to the ETH in Zurich. One year later, she became Assistant Professor of Computer-Aided Inorganic Chemistry at the ETH Zurich, and in 2002 she accepted a call for a position as Associate Professor at the �cole Polytechnique F�d�rale de Lausanne (EPFL). Since 2009, she has been working as a full Professor in Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry at the EPFL. In 2001, she received the Ruzicka Prize, and in 2005, the World Association of Theoretically Oriented Chemists (WATOC) awarded her the Dirac Medal for "the outstanding computational chemist in the world under the age of 40". Ursula Rothlisberger is an expert in the field of density functional based mixed quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical molecular dynamics simulations in the ground and electronically excited states. She has published more than 200 original publications in peer-reviewed journals and various review articles in specialized journals and as book chapters.
Prof. Dr. Beat Ruhstaller is founder of Fluxim and lecturer at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW in Winterthur, Switzerland. After a Diploma in Physics from ETH Zürich he obtained his PhD in Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (USA), in 2000. He was a postdoc at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in the display technology group before joining ZHAW, where he headed the Institute of Computational Physics from 2007 to 2010. In 2006 he founded Fluxim which he has managed as CEO since 2011. Fluxim has successfully brought R&D tool innovations from the lab to the OLED and solar cell market. He has been performing research on both optical, electronic and thermal processes in light-emitting and light-harvesting (organic) semiconductor devices.
Next years PV is expected to become one of the dominant electricity sources at world level, and this will be accompanied by a massive penetration of PV devices and systems in everyday life environments. These challenging expectations are supported by the impressive R+D advances achieved in different solar cell technologies. This has included not only mature industrial Si technologies but also new thin film chalcogenide technologies already at industrial stage and emerging device technologies with string potential for sustainable mass deployment as kesterites as well as new challenging perovskites with very high efficient potential. Third generation device concepts using III-V technologies have already demonstrated their potential for breaking the Shockley-Queisser single junction limit, achieving challenging efficiency values. At a more fundamental level, new materials with strong potential for developing next generation devices are being identified, as novel inorganic perovskites and wide band gap chalcogenides.
This Symposium will provide a suitable discussion platform bringing together scientists from different fields and research competences involving materials and devices modelling, solid state physics, chemistry and engineering to review and identify new material and device concepts coming from different solar cell technologies. The symposium aims to facilitate the exploration of the potential transfer of innovative solutions developed for the different materials and device technologies, benefiting from the cross-fertilisation between the several approaches proposed for the different kinds of compounds and analysing the extension of device concepts initially designed for other technologies
- Solar cell architectures based on selective contacts
- Implementing thin film technologies in tandem devices: going beyond SC limit at low costs
- Ultrathin device architectures: improvement of electron and photon management
- New device architectures with added functionalities: semi-transparent devices for energy efficient buildings
- New device architectures with added functionalities: towards flexible ultra-light devices
- Thermophotovoltaic device concepts: combining thermal and light harvesting
- New absorbers for next generation devices
CCVV. Alejandro P�rez Rodr�guez Alejandro P�rez-Rodr�guez (Phys. Deg. 1984, PhD 1987) is Full Professor in the Department of Electronics of the University of Barcelona. In 2005-2009 he was Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Physics of the University, where he coordinated the installation of a new Laboratory of Micro and Nanotechnologies. Since October 2009 he is ascribed to the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC) as Head of the Solar Energy Materials & Systems Group in the Department of Advanced Materials for Energy. His research activities and interests are centred on Optical and structural assessment of processes in semiconductor technologies and on the development of new technologies for high efficiency low cost solar cells based on compound chalcogenide semiconductors and third PV device generation. He has coordinated up to 20 research projects in the National Spanish R+D+i programs, as well as 11 International projects funded by different European programmes (four of them as General Coordinator of the Project, from Human Capital and Mobility, FET-IST and, more recently FP7 NMP-Energy 2011, Marie Curie (IAPP 2011, IEF 2013) and SOLARERANET programmes), 5 bilateral cooperative actions between France and Spain and Germany and Spain, and 4 industrial projects. He is co-author of 318 scientific publications (including 160 papers in ISI international journals and 9 invited reviews), with an h factor of 29, and an average of 456 citations per year in the last 4 years and has supervised 8 Master Thesis and 10 Doctoral Thesis.
Guy Brammertz graduated in 1999 from the University of Liège (Belgium) in Applied Physics. In 2003 he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Twente (The Netherlands) defending a thesis about his work on superconducting Josephson junction photon detectors carried out for the European Space Agency. He then joined imec in 2004, where he first was involved in the LogicDram program aiming at the fabrication of Ge and III-V 35 nm gate length MOS transistors for CMOS applications. His work focused on electrical and optical characterization as well as passivation of electrical defects at Ge and III-V/oxide interfaces. In 2011 he joined the imec photovoltaic program, where he is now working on the fabrication and characterization of thin film solar cells based on Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 (CIGS), Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTS) and Cu2ZnGe(S,Se)4 (CZGS) absorbers.








A clean and sustainable energy supply presents one of the major challenges of our times. To provide a large scale availability of renewable energies in the future, a nanoscale understanding of relevant processes in energy generation is of upmost importance. Scanning probe microscopy has developed into a useful and versatile tool for nanoscale materials characterization and has in the recent years made tremendous contributions to energy-related research and development. This symposium will address recent advances, insights, and developments in the energy field, facilitated by scanning probe microscopy. Systems for energy harvesting and storage covered in this symposium will include photovoltaics, batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors, thermoelectrics, piezoelectrics, etc. The symposium will bring together scientists working with and on scanning probe microscopy (SPM) methods, including scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and its multitude of extended operation modes, e.g. Kelvin probe force microscopy, scanning capacitance microscopy, conductive force microscopy, etc. Nanoscale effects and phenomena related to optoelectronics, ionics, dynamic processes, doping and charge carrier concentrations, etc. that support the understanding and advances in energy applications are of interest. This symposium also aims at stimulating the development and spreading of new SPM methods for research on energy related materials and at providing a platform to enable cooperation and future projects.
- Photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, etc. at the nanoscale
- Nanoscale phenomena in energy storage devices (batteries, fuel cells, etc.)
- Dynamic processes in energy materials (photovoltaics, batteries, fuel cells, …)
- Advanced scanning probe microscopy methods
- Electrochemistry at the nanoscale
- Charge separation and transport phenomena
Dr. Sascha Sadewasser is the Principal Investigator of the Laboratory for Nanostructured Solar Cells at INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory. The group of Sascha works on the development of advanced solar cell materials and devices implementing nano- and microstructures. Additionally, scanning probe microscopy methods, especially Kelvin probe force microscopy, are developed and applied for the characterization of the optoelectronic nanostructure of solar cell materials. Finally, the group also works on 2D chalcogenide materials.
Sascha Sadewasser holds a Diploma (1995) in Physics from the RWTH Aachen, Germany and a PhD (1999) from the Washington University St. Louis, MO, USA. After 2 post-docs in Berlin (Hahn-Institute) and Barcelona (Centro Nacional de Microelectrónica), he became group leader and later deputy department head at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Germany. After his Habilitation in Experimental Physics from the Free University of Berlin, Germany (2011) he joined INL in 2011. Sascha has published more than 80 peer-reviewed papers, with 2000 citations (h-index 25). He has published 5 book chapters and 1 book and has been granted 3 patents. He is also a member of several scientific committees and evaluation boards.
Dr. Lifeng Chi graduated in Jilin University, China. She pursued her PhD degree in University of Göttingen, Germany in 1989, and finished her Habilitation in University of Münster, Germany in 2000. She has become a Professor in Physics, University Münster since 2004. She joined Soochow University in China as a chair Professor in 2012. Her key independent research is centered around supramolecular chemistry on surfaces, including molecular assembly and reactions, molecular patterning, structured functional surfaces. She has published ca. 350 scientific papers and been cited for more than 8000 times. She won the ACS Nano Lectureship award in 2016, and IUPAC Distinguish Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering in 2017.
Benjamin Grévin is a graduate of the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG) and of the former University Joseph Fourier Grenoble I (University Grenoble Alpes, UGA). He received the Ph.D. degree in 1998 under the supervision of Dr. Y. Berthier. His doctoral work dealt with NMR investigations of high Tc superconductors and related cuprates. After a postdoctoral stay at the Condensed Matter Research Department of Geneva University in the group of Prof. Ø. Fisher, he joined in 2000 the UMR5819 joint research center (CEA-CNRS-UGA). He was awarded the bronze medal of CNRS in 2005 and obtained the accreditation to direct research (Habilitation à diriger les recherches, HdR) in 2006. His current research projects as CNRS Research Director deal with the development of advanced scanning probe microscopy techniques (nc-AFM/KPFM, time-resolved surface photo-voltage imaging), for local investigations of the opto-electronic properties of model organic (donor-acceptor BHJ and molecular self-assemblies), hybrid perovskites and 2D TMDC materials.

Professor Dr. Renate Hiesgen, born on 18.08.1958 in Germany, is Professor for Experimental Physics at the University of Applied Sciences, Department of Basic Science in Esslingen, Germany.
She studied Physics at the University of Münster and received her PhD with electron microscopy studies under the supervision of Prof. L. Reimer in 1989.
Her work on in-situ characterization of interfaces by scanning tunneling microscopy started at the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hannover in 1998. After continued research with scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy at the Research Center Jülich GmbH and the Technical University Munich, she became Professor for Experimental Physics at the University of Applied Sciences Esslingen in 2000. Main topics of her group are characterization of materials and interfaces for energy applications. In addition to battery materials and semiconductors for solar energy conversion, a focus of her work in recent years has been the investigation of ionomers and electrodes for applications in fuel cells and electrolysis with material-sensitive and conductive studies. She has authored or coauthored more than 80 publications and was recipient of the f-cell award 2007 in the category research.
Philippe Leclère received a PhD in Physics from the University of Liège (Belgium) in 1994. He joined the group of Jean-Luc Brédas at the University of Mons in 1995 as a research fellow. From 2000 to 2004, he worked as research associate and served as research coordinator at the Materia Nova Research Center. During this period, he spent 4 months (in 1999) in the group of Jean-Pierre Aimé at the University of Bordeaux (France) and one year (2003) in the group of E.W. (Bert) Meijer at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands. In October 2004, he became Research Associate of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FRS - FNRS) in the group of Roberto Lazzaroni at the University of Mons. In October 2014, he became Senior Research Associate of the FRS - FNRS. Since 2003, he is still visiting scientist at the Institute of Complex Molecular Systems at TU/e. His research interests mostly deal with the characterization by means of scanning probe microscopy techniques of the morphology and the nanoscale mechanical, electrical properties of organic and hybrid supramolecular (nano)structures, build by self-assembly of functional (macro)molecules. He is (co)author of over 160 chapter books and papers in international peer-reviewed journals. Hirsch Factor : 38
Leite is an Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, and in the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics (IREAP) at UMD. Her group investigates materials for energy harvesting and storage, from their nano-scale structural, electrical, and optical properties to their implementation in devices. Before joining UMD, Leite worked for two years at NIST and was a post-doctoral scholar at Caltech (Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science). She received her PhD in physics from Campinas State University in Brazil and the Synchrotron Light Source Laboratory. Leite's work has been recognized on the cover of 13 scientific journals, by the presentation of >85 invited talks, by the 2016 APS Ovshinsky Sustainable Energy Fellowship from the American Physical Society (APS) and the 2014 Maryland Academy of Sciences Outstanding Young Scientist Award. Leite’s research is currently funded by: NSF-ECCS (16-10833), NSF-DMR (16-09414), Army Research Lab, and the American Physical Society.


Christian Teichert studied Physics in Halle, Germany; Ph.D. in 1992; 1992/93 Postdoc (Alexander von Humboldt fellowship) Research Center Juelich, Germany; 1993-1996 Postdoc UW Madison, U.S., 1996/97 Postdoc, Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle, Germany; 1997 Assistant Professor, University of Leoben, Austria, Head of Scanning Probe Microscopy Group Leoben; since 2001 Associate Professor, University of Leoben.
2002: Gaede Prize of the German Vacuum Society. 2014: reactivated fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Areas of expertise: Scanning Probe Microscopy based nanostructure research with focus on structure and electrical and mechanical properties of inorganic and organic semiconductors, two-dimensional materials, and cellulose based materials.
Organizer of several International Nanoscience Workshops and Symposia. Currently, he is the elected vice-chair of the Nanometer Structure Division of the International Union of Vacuum Science, Technology and Application (IUVSTA).


Gunther Wittstock studied chemistry at the University of Leipzig and obtained a PhD in Analytical Chemistry. After stays at the University of Cincinnati (1992-1993) and at the Technical University of Munich, he prepared his habilitation at the Wilhelm-Ostwald-Institute of the University of Leipzig. In 2001 he became full professor of Physical Chemistry at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg where he runs an electrochemistry group. His research interest is focused on localized interfacial charge transfer reaction which he investigates within a larger variety of application. This includes biomimetic interfaces, functional organic thin films on the basis of self-assembled monolayers, patterned organic thin films, organic-inorganic functional materials, nanoparticle assemblies at interfaces, localized electrocatalytic reactions in particular oxygen reduction reaction in different media. Recently, there has been a particular emphasis on molecular reaction in energy conversion systems. He uses scanning electrochemical microscopy which is complemented by surface spectroscopies and other microscopic techniques. Among others, his achievements have been recognized by a grant of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Klaus Jürgen Vetter Award of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE). Currently he is a member of the Executive Council and Treasurer of ISE.