Plenary Speakers

Prof. Gunther Rupprechter
Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Title: "Atomic-level Insights in Catalytic Nanomaterials by in situ Surface Spectroscopy and Microscopy"
The main research interests of Günther Rupprechter are in heterogeneous catalysis and nanomaterials, particularly in situ (operando) spectroscopy/microscopy of model and technological catalysts, applied to studies of the mechanisms and kinetics of processes relevant for energy and environment: hydrogen as clean fuel, methane reforming, CO2 and olefin hydrogenation, efficient automotive catalysis, sensing and waste remediation. In 2005 he received the Jochen Block Award of the German Catalysis Society for “the application of surface science methods to heterogeneous catalysis” and became corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 2012. He is Editorial Board Member of “Catalysis Letters” and “Topics in Catalysis”, and Vice-Chair of the Austrian Catalysis Society. From 2011 to 2019 he was Speaker of the Collaborative Research Center “Functional Oxide Surfaces and Interfaces (FOXSI)” of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). He is “Renowned Overseas Professor” of Shanghai University of Engineering Science and Guest Professor at Kasetsart University Bangkok. Rupprechter is the Director of Research (Speaker) of a new Austrian Cluster of Excellence “Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage (MECS)”, including 5 Austrian universities/institutions.

Prof. Paul W. Bohn
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering/Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, USA
Title: "Hierarchically-Organized Multifunctional Nanostructures for Ultrasensitive Chemical Analysis"
Paul Bohn received B.S. (University of Notre Dame, 1977) and Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1981) degrees in Chemistry. He served 1981-83 at Bell Laboratories, Muray Hill, NJ as a Member of Technical Staff, after which he joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since 2006, he has been the Arthur J. Schmitt Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame. Prof. Bohn is the Founding Director of the Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health at Notre Dame, Founding Member of the Indiana Consortium for Analytical Science and Engineering, Director of the Center for Bioanalytic Metrology, an NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center, and Director of the Analytical Sciences & Engineering at Notre Dame faculty hiring initiative. Bohn’s research interests include: molecular approaches to, and uses of, nanotechnology, integrated nanofluidic and microfluidic chemical measurement strategies for personal monitoring, and correlated chemical imaging, especially of microbial communities. He has received a number of recognitions for his work, including most recently the Charles N. Reilley Award of the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry (2022).

Prof. Julia Kornfield
California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States
Julia A. Kornfield, Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor of Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), is an expert in polymer science, particularly how polymers influence and are influenced by flow. She has applied small angle neutron and x-ray scattering to diverse systems, including end-associative polymers for aviation safety and security (Wei et al., Science 2015), flow-induced crystallization of polymers (e.g., Science 2007) and the effects of flow on polymer self-assembly (e.g., Science 1997).
Since she joined the Caltech faculty in 1990, Kornfield has received the Dillon Medal of the American Physical Society, been elected Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and received the Bingham Medal of the Society of Rheology, among other honors. She holds 39 patents and is a co-founder of Calhoun Vision, which uses polymers developed at Caltech to customize vision by noninvasively optimizing a lens after it is implanted into a patients’ eye (FDA-approved 2017). Thus, her work spans from fundamental research on the molecular basis of polymer structure and properties, to commercialization of polymers that improve sustainability health and safety.

Keynote Speakers

Coming soon ...

Invited Speakers

Prof. Ulrike Kramm
Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
Ulrike Kramm studied applied physics at the university of applied science in Zwickau, Germany. The diploma thesis was obtained on nitrogen doped titania for photoelectrocatalytic water splitting at the Hahn-Meitner-Institute. Her PhD work focussed on the structural characterization of pyrolysed iron-porphyrin electrocatalysts. The PhD was obtained from TU Berlin. She was postdocs at different locations as Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, BTU Cottbus and INRS-EMT in Varennes, Canada. Before she became a full professor at the Department of Chemistry, she had a junior professorship also at TU Darmstadt, within the Graduate School of Excellence Energy Science and Engineering. She received different awards including the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz award, the Curious Mind Award Energie und Mobilität and a BMBF young research group.

Prof. Rositsa Yakimova
Linkoping University, Linkoping, Sweden
Title: "Engineered synthesis of novel 2D materials"
Dr. Rositsa Yakimova is professor of material science (semiconductor crystal growth) at Linkoping University, Sweden. She has about 50 years of experience in the research of advanced semiconductor materials and new technological developments in SiC, AlN, ZnO, and III-Vs. Since 2008, she has initiated and carried out epi-graphene growth on SiC, functionalization, properties, and applications. Currently, 2DSiC synthesis and characterization are the topics beyond graphene in her group. She is an expert in sublimation growth and MOCVD. She has more than 600 publications, >12 000 citations, and an H index of 53.
She is a co-founder of Graphensic AB, a spin-off company from Linköping University. She serves as a consultant for the SiC growth of Swedish and USA companies and as a member of evaluation, programme, etc. committees and boards.

Prof. Junhua Li
School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Junhua Li is a full professor in the School of Environment at Tsinghua University. He received a B.Sc. degree in chemistry from Jilin University (1992) and a PhD in nuclear fuel cycling and material from the China Institute of Atomic Energy (2001), respectively. He carried out postdoctoral research in environmental science and engineering at Tsinghua University (2002) and was a research professor at Michigan University (2008). At present, he is an editor aboard a member of Appl. Catal. B Environ, Chin. J. Catal., J. Environ. Sci., and Fron. Environ. Sci. Eng. Professor Li’s research interests are mainly in air pollution chemistry and control technologies, including the removal of NOx, VOC, Hg, and particulate matter from both mobile and stationary sources (combustion of coal, gas, and liquid fuels). In these fields, Dr. Li is the author or co-author of over 230 refereed publications, and the total citation times are over 10,000. In addition, he is authorised to have invented 32 patents and published two books. Most of the patents were implemented and applied to the removal of NOx and VOCs from real exhaust gas. Now he is a Cheung Kong Scholars professor and an Outstanding Young Scientist in China. And he obtained the State Technological Invention Award in 2015 and the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2010.

Dr. Loredana Protesescu
University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Loredana Protesescu (PhD obtained in 2016) has been an assistant professor since 2019 at Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen. She is an inorganic chemist with solid expertise in the chemistry of (novel) nanomaterials, their structural particularities, and their surface chemistry in relationship to self-assembly, and their properties. She uses chemical design to achieve functional materials at the nanoscale with applications in energy, extreme environment, and bio-applications. She has vast experience in the development of tailored semiconductor nanocrystals with applications in opto-electronic devices. Her contribution to the perovskite semiconductors nanocrystals is reflected by her extensive work with lead and tin halide perovskites with 2D and 3D structures and morphologies.

Prof. Piercarlo Mustarelli
University of Milano Bicocca, Italy
Title: "Functionalized nanofillers in batteries, fuel cells and electrolyzers"
Piercarlo Mustarelli is a full professor at the Department of Materials Science of the University of Milano Bicocca. During the last 35 years, he has been interested in the study of the chemical-physical, structural, and transport properties of several materials, including functional glasses, liquid and solid electrolytes for lithium batteries, membranes for fuel cells and electrolysers, and cathode materials for lithium and post-lithium batteries. He has also been interested in thin films, nanostructured materials, and biomaterials of broad technological interest. He is a member of the Secretariat of Batteries Europe and of the Batteries European Partnership. He is head of the R2BATT Laboratory, granted by Regione Lombardia and dedicated to the issues of the reuse of lithium batteries and the recovery and recycling of critical materials. He is the author or co-author of approximately 300 publications in international journals and over 500 communications at national and international conferences. He has an H-index of 59 (Google Scholar).

Prof. Mahesh Kumar
Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
Title: "Growth and gas sensing properties of CVD grown 2D Materials"
Dr. Mahesh Kumar is Professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur. He has received INSA Medal for Young Scientists-2014 by Indian National Science Academy, the MRSI Medal-2016 by Materials Research Society of India, DAE-Young Achiever Award-2016 by BRNS, Research Excellence Award 2020 by IIT Jodhpur and Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Prize by The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. He is recipient of the Brain Pool Program-2022 by Korean National Research Foundation, Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowships-2021; The Royal Society International Exchange Award-2021; JSPS Invitation Fellowship-2021, PIFI Visiting Scientist fellowship-2021 by Chinese Academy of Science; Duo-India Professor Fellowship-2020, Bhaskara Advanced Solar Energy Fellowship-2018 and INSA-DFG International Bilateral Exchange Award-2015. Recently INAE awarded him Abdul Kalam Technology Innovation National Fellowship 2022. He is also Editorial Board member of Nanotechnology, IEEE Sensors Journal, Bulletin of Materials Science and Nano Express. He is also Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry and Institute of Physics. He is founding Member and served as Chair of Indian National Young Academy of Sciences. He has published more than 170 research articles. His research interests are focused on 2D materials, Nanomaterials, Sensors, Semiconductor materials and devices.

Prof. Urska Lavrencic Stangar
University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Prof. UrSka Lavrencic Stangar got PhD in Chemistry from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1996. The PhD research on sol-gel materials was performed at National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana, where she continued the research on inorganic thin films and hybrid organic-inorganic gels for their application in devices using sustainable energy. In the years 2001-2003 she was working at Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Materials Chemistry, on mesostructured silica films (Lise Meitner and Marie Curie grants). She joined the University of Nova Gorica in 2005 and in 2013 she was promoted to a full professor position in chemistry. She was head of the Laboratory for Environmental Research from 2009 to 2013 and dean of the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Nova Gorica from 2013 to 2016. In 2016, her principal institution became the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, where she is professor in Inorganic Chemistry and leads the national research program “Chemistry for Sustainable Development”. In 2006, she received a national Zois award for important achievements in science and research. Besides pedagogic work, she is currently involved in research projects on photocatalysis. She was the president of the organizing committee of JEP 2013 conference (3rd European Symposium on Photocatalysis) with 180 participants from more than 30 countries. Her expertise includes the preparation and characterization of materials in thin-film and powder form and their role in environmental technologies. She is an associate editor of Chemical Engineering Journal and an evaluator for study programs accreditation at Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

Prof. Andrea Latgé
Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Title: "Exploring electronic responses in carbon-based nanostructured structures"
Andrea Latgé is a full professor at the Physics Department of the Universidade Federal Fluminense. Since her PhD (1989) in Physics she has been working on different problems in Condensed Matter Physics, including semiconductor heterostructures, carbon-nanotubes and a variety of carbon-based nanostructured materials. In the last 10 years, she has focused her interest on strained graphene-like systems and transport properties. More recently, she has started some studies on fractal lattices such as Sierpinski triangles and carpets and the response of linear molecular chains composed of such fractal structures. She is also interested in investigating the possibilities of functionalized graphene-like lattices working as gas sensors. She is a member of the Brazilian Physical Society and was the Director of Research and Graduate at her University for the past 5 years. She is the author of approximately 150 publications in international journals and has supervised a large number of PhD and Master thesis.

Dr. Li WAN
Hubei University, Wuhan, P. R. China
Dr. Li Wan joined the school of Materials Science and Engineering as auniversity lecturer since July 2011. She completed her Ph.D. in June 2011 at Hubei University, working on the low-cost carbon counter electrodes for dye sensitized solar cells under supervision of Prof. Shimin Wang. In February 2016, she went to theInstitute of Materials and Chemistry at Technische Universität Wien as a guest researcher, working on hybrid perovskite solar cells in Prof. Dominik Eder’s Group until February 2017. In June 2016, she also received the position of university Associate Professor. Dr. Wan’s main research interests include high efficiency and low-cost photovoltaic devices ranging from dye-sensitized solar cells, organic solar cells to inorganic–organic hybrid perovskite based heterojunction solar cells, preparing of various nano-carbon (carbon nanotubes, graphene), and the composites for solar cell and optoelectronic applications. Dr. Li Wan is author of >30 publications (incl. Small, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, Electrochimica Acta, Appl. Phys. Lett., Carbon, Compos. Sci. Technol., React. Funct. Polym., J. Mater. Sci.) with >1542 citations and an Google H-index of 18 to date. To date Dr. Li Wan has acquired research funding incl. Nature Science Foundation of China, Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province of China and from the Educational Commission of Hubei Province.

Assoc. Prof. Kai Wang
Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, China
Title: "Performance optimization of wide-band gap perovskite solar cells and the fabrication of high-efficiency perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells"
Kai Wang, an Associate Professor at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, primarily focuses on fundamental and applied research related to novel thin-film solar cells. His research is centered on the controllable preparation and modulation of inorganic charge transport materials, crystalline tuning, and interface modification of wide-bandgap perovskites. Furthermore, his work extends to the fabrication of large-area perovskite solar cells and perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. As both the first author and corresponding author, Wang has published a total of 38 articles including prestigious journals such as Joule, Matter, Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Functional Materials among others. His contributions have garnered significant recognition with 1591 citations on Google Scholar and an h-index value of 21.