230th ECS Meeting | Honolulu, HI | Oct. 3, 2016
Photoelectrochemical Cells for the Generation of Electricity and Fuels from Sunlight
Michael Graetzel is a pioneer in the field of energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic systems and their use in energy conversion. His work has focused on the storage of electric power in lithium ion batteries, photovoltaic cells and photo-electrochemical devices for the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen, and the development of mesoscopic systems that generate electricity and fuels from sunlight.
Graetzel graduated with a doctoral degree in natural science for the Technical University of Berlin in 1971 and is currently the professor of physical chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, where he directs the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces.
With over 1,200 publications and around 180,000 citations, Graetzel is one of the three most highly cited chemists in the world. His recent awards include King Faisal International Science Prize, Samson Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels, Benoist Prize, Albert Einstein World Award of Science, Paul Karrer Gold Medal, Millennium Technology Grand Prize, and the Balzan Prize.
Graetzel is a member of several learned societies and holds 10 honorary doctor’s degrees from European and Asian Universities. His lecture will describe research on mesoscopic photosystems for the generation of fuels and electricity from sunlight.
