An in-depth understanding of nanocrystal behaviour under reaction conditions is essential. It reveals the dynamic structural, electronic, and surface transformations that dictate performance and functionality, which is critical to advancing sustainable energy technologies. This symposium will highlight the advanced characterisation and operando analysis of nanocrystals applied to a broad range of energy conversion and storage systems. Although these systems are governed by shared fundamental processes, such as material composition, interfacial structure, defects, and charge transport, they are typically studied within separate disciplinary frameworks. This symposium seeks to bridge these fields by promoting cross-disciplinary dialogue on methods and insights that can accelerate innovation in materials science and uncover common challenges alongside shared, innovative solutions. These studies are essential for unravelling reaction mechanisms and degradation pathways in complex energy conversion processes, paving the way for the rational design of more efficient, durable, and high-performance energy materials.
- Advanced Characterisation of Nanocrystals
- Fundamental Understanding
- Structure-Property Relationship
- Energy Applications
Javier Vela is a University Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State University. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He serves on the editorial advisory boards of ACS Energy Letters, Chemistry of Materials, Chemistry–An Asian Journal, and ChemNanoMat. Along with former and current coworkers, Dr. Vela is the author of over one hundred peer-reviewed scientific publications and patents on nanostructured materials, inorganic compounds, and their application to energy conversion, chemical catalysis, and fluorescence imaging. He has directed nineteen doctoral and four master’s theses and successfully mentored numerous undergraduate researchers, among them three NSF graduate research fellowship awardees.
Dr. Vela has been a faculty scientist with the Ames National Laboratory since 2010. An active member of the American Chemical Society, he has served as Councilor for the Ames local section, Program Chair for the Midwest Regional Meeting in Ames in 2018, Treasurer of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry, and member of the Committee on Committees (ConC). He also worked as Equity Advisor for the ISU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2015 to 2021. Dr. Vela holds a BS (Lic.) in Chemistry from UNAM and a PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Rochester. After postdoctoral stints at the University of Chicago and Los Alamos National Laboratory, he joined Iowa State University in 2009. He was granted tenure in 2015, rose to the rank of full professor in 2019, and was named University Professor in 2020. He also held the rotating John D. Corbett Endowed Professorship from 2020 to 2023.
Javier Vela is a University Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State University. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He serves on the editorial advisory boards of ACS Energy Letters, Chemistry of Materials, Chemistry–An Asian Journal, and ChemNanoMat. Along with former and current coworkers, Dr. Vela is the author of over one hundred peer-reviewed scientific publications and patents on nanostructured materials, inorganic compounds, and their application to energy conversion, chemical catalysis, and fluorescence imaging. He has directed nineteen doctoral and four master’s theses and successfully mentored numerous undergraduate researchers, among them three NSF graduate research fellowship awardees.
Dr. Vela has been a faculty scientist with the Ames National Laboratory since 2010. An active member of the American Chemical Society, he has served as Councilor for the Ames local section, Program Chair for the Midwest Regional Meeting in Ames in 2018, Treasurer of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry, and member of the Committee on Committees (ConC). He also worked as Equity Advisor for the ISU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2015 to 2021. Dr. Vela holds a BS (Lic.) in Chemistry from UNAM and a PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Rochester. After postdoctoral stints at the University of Chicago and Los Alamos National Laboratory, he joined Iowa State University in 2009. He was granted tenure in 2015, rose to the rank of full professor in 2019, and was named University Professor in 2020. He also held the rotating John D. Corbett Endowed Professorship from 2020 to 2023. Dr. Vela grew up in Xalapa (Veracruz), Mexico and became a Naturalized US Citizen in 2013.
ICREA Prof. Jordi Arbiol was born in Molins de Rei (Catalonia), 1975. Graduated in Physics at Universitat de Barcelona (UB) in 1997, where he also obtained his PhD (European Doctorate and PhD Extraordinary Award) in 2001 in the field of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) applied to nanostructured materials. He also worked as Assistant Professor at UB. In 2009 he was appointed as ICREA Professor and holds this position since then. From 2009 to 2015 he was Group Leader at Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona, ICMAB-CSIC. He was the President of the Spanish Microscopy Society (SME) from 2017 to 2021, was Vice-President from 2013 to 2017 and from 2009 to 2021 he was Member of its Executive Board. In 2018 he was elected as Member of the Executive Board of the International Federation of Societies for Microscopy (IFSM) (2019-2026). Since 2015 he is the leader of the Group of Advanced Electron Nanoscopy at Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), CSIC and BIST. He is the Scientific Coordinator for the Materials Science Projects METCAM-FIB and In-CAEM at the Joint Electron Microscopy Center at ALBA Synchrotron (JEMCA). He has been one of the founder members of e-DREAM. Since 2023 he is Associate Editor of Nano Letters (American Chemical Society). He received the FWO Commemorative Medal (Flanders Research Foundation) in 2021, the 2018 BIST IGNITE Award and was awarded with the EU40 Materials Prize 2014 (E-MRS), 2014 EMS Outstanding Paper Award and listed in the Top 40 under 40 Power List (2014) by The Analytical Scientist. He currently has more than 585 peer-reviewed publications.
Sarbajit Banerjee, FRSC, FInstP, is a Full Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (D-CHAB) at ETH Zürich and serves as Head of the Laboratory for Battery Science at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). Prior to starting his positions at ETH and PSI, he was the Davidson Chair in Science and a Professor of Chemistry and of Materials Science & Engineering at Texas A&M University. He served as the Executive Director of Reconfigurable Materials Inspired by Nonlinear Neuron Dynamics (reMIND), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the Department of Energy. His research interests are focused on the design of battery materials, elucidation of mechanisms underpinning electrochemical energy storage, electron correlated solids, electronic structure studies at interfaces, metastable materials, energy efficient computation, multifunctional coatings, and the development of synchrotron spectroscopy and imaging methods.
He is a graduate of St. Stephen’s College (B.Sc.) and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Ph.D.). He was a post-doctoral research scientist at the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center at Columbia University prior to starting his independent career at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2007 where he founded and served as the Co-Director of the New York State Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics. At SUNY-Buffalo, he was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2012. In 2014, Prof. Banerjee moved to Texas A&M University as a Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering and was named to the Davidson Chair in 2020. His research accomplishments have been recognized by the National Science Foundation CAREER award (2009), the American Chemical Society ExxonMobil Solid-State-Chemistry Faculty Fellowship (2010), the Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (2011), the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society Young Leader Professional Development Award (2013), and the Journal of Physical Chemistry Lectureship (2013). In 2012, MIT Technology Review named Sarbajit to its global list of “Top 35 innovators under the age of 35” for the discovery of thermochromic ceramics that enable reduction of the energy utilization of buildings. He was named by the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining (IOM3) as the recipient of the Rosenhain Medal and Prize in 2015 and was awarded the Beilby Medal and Prize by IOM3, Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Society for Chemistry & Industry in 2016. He was named by NASA as an Innovative Advanced Concepts (NASA NIAC) Fellow in 2021. He has received two separate Special Creativity Extension Awards from the National Science Foundation (2020 and 2021).
Gaël DE PAËPEBio 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.
Pritish MishraAmy Prieto