Anders Hagfeldt – one of the world’s leading researchers into dye-sensitised solar cells. Using various methods and new nanostructured materials, he and his research team have succeeded in substantially improving the efficiency of these third-generation solar cells. Professor Hagfeldt is regarded as a highly creative scientist who throughout his fundamental research never loses sight of the industrial application. His appointment significantly strengthens EPFL’s (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) global position in the field of solar cell research.
Hagfeldt obtained his PhD in Uppsala University (Sweden) in 1993. Then he went to EPFL, in Switzerland, where he was a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Michael Grätzel, the inventor of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs).
Anders Hagfeldt works with solar cells based on perovskite materials and those based on dye sensitized thin films. Hagfeldt has been performing research on both types of solar cells, and succeeded in improving their efficiency using different methods and new materials. In 2010 he and his group made a breakthrough by using one-electron transfer redox systems such as cobalt-complexes, in combination with a new generation of organic dyes, which efficiently prevents recombination losses. This discovery was quickly embraced by Grätzel and co-workers, and the new world record for DSC is at present 13.0% by using a Co-complex redox couple and a porphyrin. Their focus now is to develop high efficiency DSSC utilizing different colors such as blue, green, yellow and red aiming for aesthetically attractive applications in for example building integration.
Anders Hagfeldt´s was ranked in various international lists of highly cited researchers, such as the Thomson Reuter’s list of the top 1% most cited in Chemistry (2014-2016) and the top-100 material scientists of the past decade by Times Higher Education (2011). In fact, Hagfeldt authored above 400 papers with more than 47.000 citations and has an h-index of 103, according to Google Scholar. Moreover, he is the author of 9 patent applications.
In 2009, he co-founded Dyenamo, a company dedicated to materials and equipment for solar energy applications. Since 2014, Hagfeldt is a Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at EPFL, where he heads the Laboratory of Photomolecular Science. Besides, he is a Visiting Professor at Uppsala University and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.
“Natural photosynthesis, which is the basis of all life on earth, uses solar energy and water to produce energy-rich substances. We want to do the same thing, but in the laboratory, and produce a fuel like hydrogen instead.<>
I really believe in solar energy as the great potential for supplying energy around the globe, even though it won’t be the only source of energy.”
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