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Michael Grätzel, Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, he directs there the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered the use of mesoscopic materials in energy conversion systems, in particular photovoltaic cells, lithium ion batteries and photo-electrochemical devices for the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen by sunlight. He discovered a new type of solar cell based on dye sensitized nanocrystalline oxide films. Mass production has started in October 2009. Author of over 1000 publications, two books and inventor of more than 50 patents, his work has been cited over 148000 times (H-index 176) making him one of the 10 most highly cited chemists in the world. He has received prestigious awards, including the 2014 Samson Prime Minister Prize, the Balzan Prize, the Galvani Medal, the Faraday Medal, the Harvey Prize, the Gerischer Award, the Dutch Havinga Award and Medal, the International Prize of the Japanese Society of Coordination Chemistry, the ENI-Italgas Energy-Prize and the year 2000 European Grand Prix of Innovation. His most recent awards include the 2012 Albert Einstein World Award of Science, 2011 Gutenberg Research Award, 2011 Paul Karrer Gold Medal and the 2010 Millenium Technology Grand Prize. He was selected by the Scientific American as one of the 50 top researchers in the world. He received a doctor’s degree in Natural Science from the Technical University Berlin and honorary doctors degrees from 11 Universities (Univ. Liege, Belgium (2013); Rskilde Univ., Denmark (2012); Huazhong Univ of Sci. & Tech., Wuhan, China (2011); Nangyang Tech. Univ (NTU), Singapore (2011); Univ. Lund, Sweden (2011); Univ. Nova Gorica, Slovenia (2010); Univ. Hasselt, Belgium (2009); Delft Univ. of Technology, Netherlands (2006); Univ. Turin (Torino), Italy (2004) and Univ. Uppsala, Sweden (1996)). He has been the Mary Upton Visiting Professor at Cornell University and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore. He was an Invited Professor at the University of Berkeley, the Ecole Nationale de Chachan (Paris) and Delft University of Technology. In 2009, he was named Distinguished Honorary Professor by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Changchun) and the Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He is a member of the Swiss Chemical Society as well as of the European Academy of Science, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and was elected honorary member of the Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles and the Bulgarian Academy of Science.
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Grätzel, M. Preface to the special issue on Mesoscopic Solar Cells . Front. Optoelectron. 9, 1–2 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-016-0605-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-016-0605-4