The development of renewable and sustainable energy sources has become essential to reduce global warming and current reliance on fossil fuels. A growing technological area of interest lies in photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic approaches for solar-driven fuel generation, being required for their high energy density and on-demand use. Organic semiconductor materials, such as carbon nitrides, covalent organic frameworks, and conjugated polymer photocatalysts and their operation as heterostructures are gaining increasing attention, as their bottom-up tailor ability promises optimized optoelectronic properties and processability, which enable efficient solar light harvesting across the visible and near-infrared spectrum.
Current research aims to clarify the interplay between the structure (nanomorphology), optical properties, and performance of organic semiconductor photo(electro)catalysts through systematic molecular design strategies. These are complemented by advanced optical spectroscopic studies, enabling a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms within materials. This symposium will serve as an important venue to exchange current insights and strategies for improving the performance of organic semiconductor photocatalysts while fostering international collaborations helping to advance the field and to increase TRL of these promising, low-cost technologies.
- Advances in organic semiconductors materials’ and (hetero-)structures’ design for applications in photocatalysis
- Advanced and coupled (in-situ/operando) characterization techniques of organic-based photocatalyst function
- Water splitting, CO2 and N2 reduction, H2 production, oxygen evolution and value-added oxidation products
Soranyel Gonzalez's research focuses on the design, fabrication, and comprehensive characterization of advanced hybrid and organic (nano)materials with finely tuned morphology and tailored interfacial properties to enable high-efficiency photocatalytic systems. A key emphasis is placed on their application in solar energy conversion processes, where these materials are engineered to optimize light harvesting, charge separation, and catalytic activity. She employs state-of-the-art optical spectroscopy techniques, such as ultrafast transient absorption and time-resolved photoluminescence, to gain deep insights into the photophysical and interfacial dynamics that determine material and device performance.
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
Jenny Nelson is a Professor of Physics at Imperial College London, where she has researched novel varieties of material for use in solar cells since 1989. Her current research is focussed on understanding the properties of molecular semiconductor materials and their application to organic solar cells. This work combines fundamental electrical, spectroscopic and structural studies of molecular electronic materials with numerical modelling and device studies, with the aim of optimising the performance of plastic solar cells. She has published around 200 articles in peer reviewed journals, several book chapters and a book on the physics of solar cells.
Dr. Julia Pérez-Prieto is the leader of the Photochemical Reactivity Group at the Institute of Molecular Science of the University of Valencia (http://jperezprieto-prg.com/julia_perez-prieto/). She has been a full Professor at the University of Valencia since 2007. Prof Pérez-Prieto’s research interests are currently focused on the design and synthesis of new photoactive nanomaterials, such as lead halide perovskites, gold nanoparticles and gold nanoclusters, upconversion nanoparticles and hybrid nanomaterials, as well as lanthanide complexes, to address major challenges in sensing, imaging, therapy, and sustainability. Dr. Julia Pérez-Prieto has made a number of significant contributions to the area of synthesis, catalysis, photochemistry and photoactive nanomaterials and she has published over 180 articles in peer-reviewed journals and (co)authored 10 book chapters. She is co-editor of the book “Photoactive Inorganic Nanoparticles: Surface Composition and Nanosystem Functionality”, ISBN: 9780128145319), Elsevier, 2019.
She has been the Principal Researcher in a considerable number of “I+D+I state programme” projects and has also been awarded a PROMETEO grant (PROMETEO/2019/080) by The Generalitat Valenciana for research groups of excellence and has also been granted with funding for acquiring state-of-the-art equipment for the photophysical characterization in the UV-NIR II wavelength range of the materials prepared in her group.
She was one of the PIs in the CMST COST Action CM1403 and member of its Steering Committee as well as the organizer of the 2nd Conference and Spring School on Properties, Design and Applications of Upconverting Nanomaterials, in Valencia, 2018.
Prof Pérez-Prieto was a collaborator of the Spanish Research Agency in the Area of Chemistry June 2015-June 2020 and a member of several international committees.
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.