Prof. Michael Grätzel

Michael Grätzel (Germany, 1944) completed a degree in chemistry at the Free University of Berlin (1968), then a doctorate in Physical Chemistry at TU Berlin (1971). He joined the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland) in 1977 and founded the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at EPFL, which he has headed ever since. He has held visiting or research positions at centers including UC Berkeley (United States), the National University of Singapore, Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), the Hahn Meitner Institute Berlin (Germany) and the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan (Paris, France). Served on the scientific advisory boards many agencies and institutes. He is author of over 1,800 scientific papers and 3 books, holds more than 80 patents and has co-founded two start-ups. He is Elected Member of the Swiss Academy for Technical Sciences, Royal Spanish Academy of Engineering, German Academy of Science (Leopoldina), Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, European Academy of Science, and many others. He holds honorary doctorates from over 12 leading universities. He has received numerous awards including the Faraday Medal, Dutch Havinga Award, McKinsey Venture award, Gerischer Prize, Harvey Prize, Balzan Prize for the Science of New Materials, Millennium Technology Prize, Paul Karrer Gold Medal, Wilhelm Exner Medal, Albert Einstein World Award of Science, Marcel Benoist Prize, King Faisal International Prize and the Global Energy Prize, and BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award. Michael Graetzel was the first to conceive and realize mesoscopic photosystems that convert sunlight very efficiently to electricity and chemical fuels mimicking natural photosynthesis

Title of Presentation:
Molecular and Perovskite Photovoltaics for Producing Electricity and Fuels from Sunlight

Prof. Shahzada Ahmad

Shahzada Ahmad is an Ikerbasque professor, his scientific interests include materials for energy applications. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in the field of materials science and moved to the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, to work on surfaces and interfaces by scanning probe microscopy. At EPFL, he developed nanoporous films for metal-free electro-catalysis and new redox shuttles. From 2012 to 2017 he was program director at Abengoa Research, a corporate research center. His scientific publications list reflects his diverse field of interest in the domain of physical chemistry, and materials science with a research mission to develop innovative materials for energy application. He is the inventor of 7 families of patents (23 patents), edited 3 books, 8 book chapters, and his work has been summarized in >150 articles, along with popular science articles on the leading international platform. His research spans across the fields to address materials for societal challenges. His work has led to the invitation to speak at scientific or policy-based conferences, inventor of patents, Chief Editor “Emergent Materials”, board member of scientific journals. European research council consolidator grant (2016) awardee, elected member (fellow) of the European Academy of Sciences, a fellow of Young Academy of Europe (FYAE), a fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), a cohort of distinguished scientist by World Economic Forum (< 40), Young Investigator Medal (2019) Royal Academy of Engineering, Spain and Distinguished Foreign Experts, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He is technical chair of the largest renewable energy conference in Africa and the MENA region. He is a strong advocate for renewable energy and regularly writes popular science articles for the public at large at World Economic Forum.

Title of Presentation:
Engineering the Halide Perovskites and Designing of Charge Selective Layers for Efficient Light Harvesting

Dr. Riccardo Ruffo

Riccardo Ruffo is currently Associate Professor of Electrochemistry and Physical Chemistry of Materials at the Department of Materials Science, University of Milano Bicocca. He received the Master Degree in Chemistry and the Master in Materials Science and Technology at the University of Milan and the PhD in Materials Science at the University of Milano-Bicocca. In 2007 he became Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Milano-Bicocca. Two sabbaticals at Stanford University with Y. Cui and R. A. Huggins (2008 and 2013) in which he worked, among others, on the development of silicon anodes for lithium batteries. His main research interests are materials for energy production and storage, mainly electrodes for alkaline ion batteries and semiconducting polymers for electro-optical applications such as photovoltaics and electrochromism. He is also an expert in the electrochemical characterization of organic molecules. He has co-authored about 140 peer-reviewed papers and more than 100 scientific contributions to national or international conferences.

Title of Presentation:
Lithium-ion Batteries and Beyond: Chemical Challenges in the Electrification Roadmap

Dr. Jijeesh Nair

Jijeesh Ravi Nair received his PhD, a European Doctorate (2010), in Materials Science and Technology from Politecnico di Torino, Italy. After the PhD, until 2017 he worked as a senior postdoctoral researcher at Politecnico di Torino. Since 2017, he is a research associate at the Helmholtz Institute Muenster (HI MS) ‘Ionics in Energy Storage’, a division of forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH. His research activities focus on the development of cross-linked SPEs for LBs. Previously (2005–2006), he worked in the R&D department of Asian Paints Ltd., Mumbai (India), on emulsion polymerization process. In 2010, he won the Oronzio and Niccolo’ De Nora Foundation Prize of the Italian Chemical Society (SCI) for the best PhD thesis. In 2012, hexwon the researcher under 30 years of age category award (Italy), ‘ENIxAWARD 2012–debut in research’. He has published 80 scientific articles and co-authored five book chapters. He has been awarded two international patent, and three of his other patent applications are under evaluation.

Title of Presentation:
Polymer Electrolytes for Lithium Metal Batteries: An Overview