Henry Snaith | |
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![]() Henry Snaith in 2015 | |
Born | Henry James Snaith January 1978 (age 45) [1] [2] |
Education | Gresham's School [3] |
Alma mater |
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Awards |
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Scientific career | |
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Institutions | |
Thesis | Polymer based photovoltaic diodes (2005) |
Doctoral advisor | Richard Friend [5] [6] |
Other academic advisors | Michael Grätzel |
Doctoral students | Varun Sivaram [7] |
Website | www2 |
Henry James Snaith (born 1978) [1] FRS is a professor in physics in the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford. [8] Research from his group has led to the creation of a new research field, based on halide perovskites for use as solar absorbers. Many individuals who were PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in Snaith's group have now established research groups, independent research portfolios and commercial enterprises. He co-founded Oxford Photovoltaics in 2010 to commercialise perovskite based tandem solar cells.
Snaith was educated at Gresham's School, an independent school in Norfolk, from 1989 to 1996. [3] He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Bristol, followed by postgraduate research at the University of Cambridge where he was awarded a PhD in 2005 for research on polymer solar cells supervised by Richard Friend. [6] [5] [9]
Following his PhD, Snaith did two years of postdoctoral research with Michael Grätzel at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). [5] [10] He returned to the Cavendish Laboratory as a Junior Research Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge in 2006. Following this, Snaith was appointed a Research Councils UK (RCUK) research fellow while at the University of Oxford,[ year needed ] then promoted to Reader and Professor.[ year needed ] According to a biography from the Materials Research Society (MRS):
His research has been focused on new materials and device architectures for future generation low-cost photovoltaic. Snaith's achievements include the first demonstration of "gyroid" structured titania for dye solar cells, the first demonstration of mesoporous single crystals of anatase TiO2 and the recent discovery of high efficiency solid-state organometal trihalide perovskite-based thin film and mesosuperstructured solar cells. In 2010, he founded Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd., which is commercialising perovskite solar cells for building integrated and utility scale photovoltaic applications. [11]
Snaith's research has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). [12]
Snaith was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015. [13] His certificate of election reads:
Professor Henry Snaith has pioneered the development of hybrid materials for energy and photovoltaics through an interdisciplinary combination of materials synthesis, device development, advanced optoelectronic characterisations and theoretical studies. He has created new materials with advanced functionality and enhanced understanding of fundamental mechanisms. His recent discovery of extremely efficient thin-film solar cells manufactured from organic-inorganic metal halide perovskites has reset aspirations within the photovoltaics community. His work has started a new field of research, attracting both academic and industrial following, propelled by the prospect of delivering a higher efficiency photovoltaic technology at a much lower cost than existing silicon PV. [8]
In 2012, Snaith was Institute of Physics Clifford Paterson Medal and Prize for "his important contributions to the field of excitonic solar cells". [14]
In 2014, Snaith was awarded the MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award. [15] He was awarded the Patterson Medal of the Institute of Physics in 2012, and named as one of Nature's ten people who mattered in 2013. [2]
In 2015, Snaith was ranked number two on the list of The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds, a citation analysis identifying the scientists who have made the most significant impact within their respective field of study by the Intellectual Property (IP) and Science business of Thomson Reuters. [16] In May 2016, he was awarded the EU-40 Materials Prize from the European Material Research Society. [17]
In October 2017, he was awarded the Institute of Physics James Joule Medal and Prize for the discovery and development of organic-inorganic metal-halide perovskite solar cells. [18] In September 2020, he was awarded the Becquerel Prize in honour of his contributions to the use of perovskites as solar cells.[ citation needed ]
A perovskite is any material with a crystal structure following the formula ABX3, which was first discovered as the mineral called perovskite, which consists of calcium titanium oxide (CaTiO3). The mineral was first discovered in the Ural mountains of Russia by Gustav Rose in 1839 and named after Russian mineralogist L. A. Perovski (1792–1856). 'A' and 'B' are two positively charged ions (i.e. cations), often of very different sizes, and X is a negatively charged ion (an anion, frequently oxide) that bonds to both cations. The 'A' atoms are generally larger than the 'B' atoms. The ideal cubic structure has the B cation in 6-fold coordination, surrounded by an octahedron of anions, and the A cation in 12-fold cuboctahedral coordination. Additional perovskite forms may exist where either/both the A and B sites have a configuration of A1x-1A2x and/or B1y-1B2y and the X may deviate from the ideal coordination configuration as ions within the A and B sites undergo changes in their oxidation states.
Sir Richard Henry Friend is a British physicist who was the Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge from 1995 until 2020 and is Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapore. Friend's research concerns the physics and engineering of carbon-based semiconductors. He also serves as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Singapore.
In the 19th century, it was observed that the sunlight striking certain materials generates detectable electric current – the photoelectric effect. This discovery laid the foundation for solar cells. Solar cells have gone on to be used in many applications. They have historically been used in situations where electrical power from the grid was unavailable.
A dye-sensitized solar cell is a low-cost solar cell belonging to the group of thin film solar cells. It is based on a semiconductor formed between a photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte, a photoelectrochemical system. The modern version of a dye solar cell, also known as the Grätzel cell, was originally co-invented in 1988 by Brian O'Regan and Michael Grätzel at UC Berkeley and this work was later developed by the aforementioned scientists at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) until the publication of the first high efficiency DSSC in 1991. Michael Grätzel has been awarded the 2010 Millennium Technology Prize for this invention.
Michael Grätzel is a professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne where he directs the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic-materials and their optoelectronic applications. He co-invented with Brian O'Regan the Grätzel cell in 1988.
Jenny Nelson is Professor of Physics in the Blackett Laboratory and Head of the Climate change mitigation team at the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and Environment at Imperial College London.
A perovskite solar cell (PSC) is a type of solar cell that includes a perovskite-structured compound, most commonly a hybrid organic–inorganic lead or tin halide-based material as the light-harvesting active layer. Perovskite materials, such as methylammonium lead halides and all-inorganic cesium lead halide, are cheap to produce and simple to manufacture.
Methylammonium lead halides (MALHs) are solid compounds with perovskite structure and a chemical formula of [CH3NH3]+Pb2+(X−)3, where X = Cl, Br or I. They have potential applications in solar cells, lasers, light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, radiation detectors, scintillator, magneto-optical data storage and hydrogen production.
Mercouri Kanatzidis is a Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of chemistry and professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University and Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory.
James Robert DurrantFRSC FLSW is a British photochemist. He is a professor of photochemistry at Imperial College London and Sêr Cymru Solar Professor at Swansea University. He serves as director of the centre for plastic electronics (CPE).
Jeremy John Baumberg, is a British physicist who is Professor of Nanoscience in the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and Director of the NanoPhotonics Centre.
Laura Maria Herz is a professor of physics at the University of Oxford. She works on femtosecond spectroscopy for the analysis of semiconductor materials.
Wendy Ruth Flavell is Vice Dean for Research and a Professor of Surface Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. Her research investigates the electronic structure of complex metal oxides, chalcogenides, photoemission and photovoltaics.
Tsutomu Miyasaka, is a Japanese engineer in electrochemistry best known for the inventor of perovskite solar cell.
Oxford Photovoltaics Limited is an Oxford University spin-off company in the field of perovskite photovoltaics and solar cells.
David S. Ginger is an American physical chemist. He is the B. Seymour Rabinovitch Endowed Professor of Chemistry at the University of Washington. He is also a Washington Research Foundation distinguished scholar, and chief scientist of the University of Washington Clean Energy Institute. In 2018, he was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for his work on the microscopic investigation of materials for thin-film semiconductors. He was elected a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012, and was a 2016 National Finalist of the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists.
The James Joule Medal and Prize is awarded by the Institute of Physics. It was established in 2008, and was named in honour of James Prescott Joule, British physicist and brewer. The award is made for distinguished contributions to applied physics. The medal is silver and is accompanied by a prize of £1000.
Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin is an Indian-Swiss chemist and materials scientist who conducts research on Perovskite solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, and light-emitting diodes. He is a professor at EPFL and the director of the Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Functional Materials at School of Basic Sciences.
Anita Ho-Baillie is an Australian scientist who is the John Hooke Chair of Nanoscience at the University of Sydney. Her research considers the development of durable perovskite solar cells and their integration into different applications. She was named as one of the Web of Science's most highly cited researchers in 2019–2022.
Annamaria Petrozza is an American chemist who is a professor at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. Her research considers sustainable materials for optoelectronic devices. She was awarded the 2022 Materials Research Society Award in Innovation in Materials Characterization.
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