This symposium invites contributions on innovative semiconductor materials and device concepts for photo-assisted electrochemical (PV-EC), photoelectrochemical (PEC), and photocatalytic (PC) systems. The focus is on establishing clear structure-property-function relationships that connect fundamental materials design to application-driven performance metrics. The symposium will consider advances in materials synthesis and compositional engineering, semiconductor optimization and defect control, device architectures, and system-level engineering strategies. Particular emphasis will be placed on advanced experimental and computational characterization approaches that provide mechanistic insight into charge generation, transport, interfacial transfer, and reaction pathways under operating conditions. Various materials will be of interest: oxides, nitrides, chalcogenides, (halide) perovskites, organic and hybrid semiconductors for the production of solar fuels and renewable chemicals or the degradation of contaminants. Related topics include scalable fabrication strategies, operando and multimodal characterization, theory-guided materials discovery, and sustainability-driven design principles, aiming to accelerate the development of efficient, stable, and environmentally responsible photo-driven energy conversion systems.
- Semiconductor materials design and synthesis (doping, defects, heterostructures..)
- Charge generation, transport, and interfacial processes
- Advanced and operando characterization techniques (Time-resolved, Operando spectroscopy and microscopy under
- Computational modeling (DFT methods for electronic structure and interfaces, Multiscale modeling of charge transport
- Fabrication strategies and scalability (thin film deposition, interface engineering, degradation mechanisms)
- System-level engineering and sustainability considerations (Reactor and system design for real-world operation)
- PV-EC, PEC (bias assisted, stand-alone and tandem configurations), and PC systems
Ainhoa CotsPaula Dias received her PhD degree in chemical and biological engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, in 2016, with the thesis entitled "Innovative Photoelectrodes for Solar Water Splitting". Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at the same institution - LEPABE. Her research activities aim at solar energy conversion and storage from photoelectrochemical cells for solar water splitting and charging redox flow batteries. Special interest lies in the design, characterization and scale-up of efficient and stable semiconductors, catalysts and tandem cell devices.
Dr Eslava leads a cutting-edge research group focused on the development of novel synthesis approaches for (photo)electrochemical and (photo)catalytic materials. His team's work involves exploring a wide range of materials, including transition metal oxides, halide perovskites, organic bulk heterojunctions, oxide perovskites, and graphene derivatives. By conducting comprehensive physicochemical and electrochemical characterizations, they aim to link material properties to practical applications, particularly in the field of energy conversion. Their research has significant interdisciplinary reach, spanning chemical engineering, chemistry, physics, and materials science. Dr Eslava's research contributions have been widely recognized, with over 85 publications in leading journals like Nature Energy, Advanced Materials, Energy & Environmental Science, and Nature Communications. He has been awarded prestigious funding from organizations such as The Royal Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, EPSRC, and Innovate UK. His innovative contributions to the field earned him the Warner Medal from the Institution of Chemical Engineers for his impactful research and dissemination efforts.
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. From 07/2013 to 08/2018, he was Emmy-Noether Young Investigator at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. Since 08/2018, he is Full Professor at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. His current research interests are heterogeneous photocatalysis, especially photocatalytic water splitting and nitrogen reduction using semiconductor mixed oxides, and synthesis of oxidic mesostructured materials for energy applications.
Sandheep Ravishankar is currently a team leader in the photovoltaics department (IMD-3) at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. He is interested in all aspects of the characterization and simulation of the device physics in perovskite single-junction and tandem solar cells. He uses a combination of electrical methods, luminescence methods and drift-diffusion simulations for this purpose, followed by the development of analytical or semi-analytical models for parameter estimation.