Speakers

Qing Shen, The University of Electro-Communications

Qing Shen is a professor at the University of Electro-Communications, Japan. She received her BS and MS degrees in physics from Nanjing University in 1987 and 1989, respectively. She earned her PhD degree in applied chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1995. Then she continued to work in the University of Tokyo as a JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists (PD) and a research assistant. In 1996, she joined the University of Electro-Communications and became a full professor in 2016. She was also concurrently a researcher in the Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO) program “Photoenergy Conversion Systems and Materials for the Next Generation Solar Cells”, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), from 2009 to 2015. She received several awards: Young Scientist Award of the Japan Society of Applied Physics (1997), the Best Paper Award of the Japan Society of Thermophysical Properties (2003), the Young Scientist Award of the Symposium on Ultrasonic Electronics of Japan (2003), the Excellent Women Scientist Award of the Japan Society of Applied Physics (2014). Her current research focuses on (1) photoexcited carrier dynamics and photo-physics as well as interface engineering of solar cells (perovskite solar cells, quantum dot solar cells and organic solar cells) and light-emitting devices for enhancing their photoelectronic conversion efficiency, (2) colloidal nanocrystal quantum dots (such as perovskite quantum dots, PbS quantum dots) including synthesis, fundamental optical properties, photoexcited carrier dynamics and application to optoelectronic devices such as solar cells and light-emitting devices.

Kai Zhu, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Kai Zhu is currently a Principal Scientist and Distinguished Member Research Staff at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He received his PhD degree in physics from Syracuse University in 2003, where he studied the electrical & optical properties and device physics of solar cells based on amorphous-silicon thin films and dye-sensitized mesoporous TiO2 films. He then spent about one year at Kansas State University as a postdoctoral researcher, working on III-Nitride wide-bandgap semiconductors for high-power blue and UV light emitting diodes. In 2004, he joined NREL as a postdoctoral researcher, working on fundamental charge carrier transport and recombination in dye-sensitized solar cells. Since 2007, he has worked as a staff scientist at NREL. Zhu’s current research interests are focused on both basic and applied research on perovskite solar cells, including perovskite material development, device fabrication and characterization, and basic understanding of charge carrier dynamics in these cells. In addition to solar cell applications, his research interests have also included hydrogen production via photoelectrochemical cells as well as nanostructured electrodes for Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors.

Shuzi Hayase, The University of Electro-Communications

Shuzi Hayase graduated from Osaka University in 1976 and received a PhD degree from Osaka University in 1983. He joined R&D Center in Toshiba Corporation from 1978 to 2000. He was a professor at Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT) from 2001 to 2019. From 2009 to 2017, he was a Supervisor of PRESTO project (JST), “Photoenergy conversion systems and materials for the next generation solar cells “). From 2016 to 2018, he was an Executive Director, Vice-President of KIT. Since 2019, he is a professor at The University of Electro-Communications (UEC). He received Hamakawa Award from Japan Solar Energy Society in 2022, fellowship of The Society of Polymer Science, Japan, in 2020, The Chemical Society of Japan Award for Technological Development from The Chemical Society of Japan in 1992, among others. He promoted research on dye-sensitized solar cells, their solidification, and perovskite solar cells focused on Sn based perovskite solar cells.

Jinsong Huang, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Jinsong Huang is currently Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Distinguished Professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his PhD degree in Material Science and Engineering from the University of California-Los Angeles in 2007. After working in a small business company for two years, he joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2009 as an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2014, and professor in 2016. He joined the faculty in the department of Applied Physical Sciences of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2017. His current research interests include solution processed electronic materials for applications in energy, sensing, and consumer electronics.  He has authored > 250 publications, >30 patents, >10 books and book chapters.

Joseph Luther, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Joey Luther is a senior research fellow within the Materials, Chemical, and Computational Science directorate at NREL. He began his research career studying III-V light-emitting diodes and multijunction solar cells at North Carolina State University, and then moved to NREL during his graduate studies to study defects within various photovoltaic technologies. Under the direction of Arthur Nozik, he developed solar cells from colloidal nanocrystals, which exploit a phenomenon where multiple excitons are generated and harvested per incident photon. Luther then became a postdoctoral scholar in Paul Alivisatos’ group at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In 2009, he rejoined NREL as a senior research scientist. Luther’s research interests focus on developing clean energy technologies through the frontiers of nanoscience and low-cost advanced processing. His research is funded by Basic Energy Sciences Energy Frontier Research Centers, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, the U.S. Department of Defense, strategic partnerships with industry, and NASA.

Tsutomu Miyasaka, Toin University of Yokohama

Tsutomu Miyasaka completed the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo in 1981 (Doctor of Engineering). He has been a senior researcher at the Ashigara Research Institute of Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. and has been a professor at the Graduate School of Engineering, Toin University of Yokohama (TUY) since 2001. He was the Dean of the Graduate School of Engineering from 2006 to 2009. From 2005 to 2010, he was also a guest professor at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo. He founded Peccell Technologies Co., Ltd. in 2004 and is the CEO. He is currently a project professor at TUY and a fellow of Research Center of Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo. His research specializes in photoelectrochemistry and hybrid photovoltaic cells, especially perovskite solar cells. Awards include Japan Academy Prize (2024), Rank Prize (2022), Japan Society of Applied Physics Achievement Award (2019), Chemical Society of Japan Award (2017), Ichimura Academic Award (2020), Clarivate Analytics Citation Laureate (2017), among others.

Takurou N. Murakami, AIST

Takurou N. Murakami is a team leader of the Organic-Inorganic Hybrid PV Team, Global Zero Emission Research Center (GZR), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). He is currently leading an R&D project for the commercialization of perovskite solar cells under the Green Innovation Fund project. In this project, AIST supports companies in their technology development. Murakami received his PhD in engineering from Toin University of Yokohama in 2005 and worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Prof. Michael Graetzel at EPFL before becoming a lecturer at Toin University of Yokohama in 2007. In 2005, he received the Scientific American 50 Award for his invention of the photocapacitor, which combines photoelectric conversion and storage in a single device. In 2006, he received the Honda Fujishima Award for his work on plastic dye-sensitised solar cells and photocapacitors. He also co-invented the world's first solid-state perovskite solar cell with Professor Henry Snaith of Oxford University, which was published in Science in 2012 and became the starting point for the development of perovskite solar cells worldwide.

Hiroshi Segawa, Tokyo University

Hiroshi Segawa is professor of The University of Tokyo. He received his BS, MS and PhD degrees from Kyoto University in 1984, 1986 and 1989, respectively. He was Research Associate (1989-1995) at the division of Molecular Engineering of Graduate School of Engineering at Kyoto University. In 1995 he joined the University of Tokyo as Associate Professor of Department of Chemistry of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. From 1997 he has been in charge of Department of Applied Chemistry of Graduate School of Engineering. In 2006, he joined Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), the University of Tokyo as a professor. From 2016, he was appointed a professor of Department of Multi-Disciplinary Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo. From 2020 he has also been in charge of Department of Chemical System Engineering of Graduate School of Engineering. He published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific papers. He received awards, including Prizes for Science and Technology (The Commendation for Science and Technology by MEXT, Japan, 2019), Platinum Prize (Tanaka Noble Metal Group, Japan, 2014), and The Second Solar Award (Solar Award Executive Committee, Japan, 2013).

Atsushi Wakamiya, Kyoto University

Atsushi Wakamiya received his PhD degree from Kyoto University in 2003. He began his academic career at Nagoya University as an assistant professor in 2003. In 2010, he moved to Kyoto University as an associate professor and was promoted to full professor in 2018. He has received several awards: The Chemical Society of Japan Award for Creative Work (2020), Commendation for Science and Technology by MEXT Japan: Award for Science and Technology Research Category (2022), etc. He is a project leader of the Green Innovation Program (NEDO) and JST-Mirai Program. He is a co-founder and a director (as Chief Scientific Officer, CSO) of “EneCoat Technologies, Co. Ltd.”, a startup company for perovskite solar modules. His research interests include physical organic chemistry, elemental chemistry, and materials chemistry.

Gang Xiong, First Solar

Gang Xiong first joined First Solar in 2007 and has since worked on cell/module research and technology transfer to manufacturing lines. As director of First Solar California Technology Center, he manages the site operations and research programs such as CdTe, perovskite and tandem. He and his team have set a few CdTe cell and module efficiency world records. Representing First Solar, Xiong also serves at a few industrial advisory boards (IAB), including as the IAB chair of U.S. Manufacturing of Advanced Cadmium Telluride Photovoltaics, the former IAB chair of Next Generation PV Research Center under National Science foundation, and the IAB member of U.S. Manufacturing of Advanced Perovskite. Xiong is a physicist and material scientist by training. He received his bachelor’s degree at University of Science and Technology of China, and a PhD in Physics at Wake Forest University, USA. Before joining First Solar, he was a postdoc research fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory at US Department of Energy.

Yanfa Yan, University of Toledo

Yanfa Yan is an Ohio Research Scholar Endowed Chair and a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Toledo. He is also a Faculty Member of the Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization.  Previously, he was a Principal Scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He earned his PhD degree in Physics from Wuhan University in 1993. His expertise includes thin-film solar cell fabrication, defect physics of semiconductors, and nanoscale characterization of microstructures, interfaces, and defects in thin-film photovoltaic materials. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Yang Yang, University of California, Los Angeles

Yang Yang earned his PhD from the University of Massachusetts in 1992, followed by short-term postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Riverside, in the same year. Prior to joining UCLA in 1997, he served as a staff scientist at UNIAX (now DuPont Display) from 1992 to 1996. Yang's primary research focuses on solar energy and highly efficient electronic devices. During his tenure at UCLA, Yang has supervised the completion of approximately 50 Ph.D. students and mentored around 50 postdoctoral researchers. Remarkably, roughly 40% of his mentees have gone on to become faculty members at esteemed institutions worldwide. His contributions have garnered significant recognition, with his work accumulating approximately 150,000 citations and boasting an impressive H-Index of 185. Presently, he holds the esteemed positions of Distinguished Professor at UCLA and the Carol and Lawrence E. Tannas Jr. Endowed Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering.