PLENARY SPEAKERS

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Prof. Jan Schmidt

Prof. Jan Schmidt
Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH), Germany & Institute of Solid-State Physics, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany
Title: Options for ultrahigh efficiencies in photovoltaics
Jan Schmidt is head of the Photovoltaics Department at the Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH) and Professor of Photovoltaics Materials Research at the Leibniz University Hanover. His research interests include the development of novel solar cell concepts and fabrication processes, with focus on surface passivation schemes and selective contacts, the development of novel characterization techniques for semiconductor materials and solar cells, and the analysis and manipulation of defects in semiconductors. He has authored and co-authored more than 160 peer-reviewed papers and more than 120 conference papers in the fields of photovoltaics and semiconductor physics. His research articles have been cited more than 13,000 times with an h-index of 62. Dr. Schmidt is scientific committee member for several conferences (EUPVSEC, SiliconPV/nPV, IEEE PVSC) and Editor of the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. 

Prof. ​Yong Zhang

Prof. ​Yong Zhang 
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Title: Fluorescent nanoparticles and nanoclusters for bioimaging and phototherapy
Yong Zhang is a Provost's Chair Professor in Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS). His current research interests include nanobiophotonics, nanomedicine, and microfluidic devices. Professor Zhang has authored over 300 peer-reviewed research papers in international journals such as Nature Medicine, Nature Communications, Nature Protocols, PNAS, and Chemical Reviews, and has won numerous research awards such as IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award and NUS Young Investigator Award. He is a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and a Highly Cited Researcher amongst the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds named by Clarivate Analytics.

Prof. Eli Sutter

Prof. Eli Sutter
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, USA
Title: New Frontiers in Two Dimensional/Layered Materials
Eli Sutter is a Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (USA). Before joining the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2015 she spent 12 years as Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Her research focuses on in-situ electron microscopy of materials at variable temperatures and in different environments. She has co-authored more than 185 scientific publications, 50 invited talks and holds 8 US Patents.  She received a Scientific American 50 award for Ultra-measurements (2007), the Sapphire Prize (2011) and Battelle Inventor of the Year Award (2015). She served as Chair of the International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology, Vail (CO) in 2014 and the 2017 Materials Research Society Spring Meeting in Phoenix (AZ)

Prof. Atsushi Urakawa

Prof. Atsushi Urakawa
Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands​
Title: Operando views on the dynamic nanostructures of catalytic materials
Atsushi Urakawa was born in Japan. He obtained his BSc degree (with one year stay in the USA) in Applied Chemistry at Kyushu University (Japan) and he studied Chemical Engineering at Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) for his MSc degree. He obtained his PhD in 2006 from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) where he worked as Senior Scientist and Lecturer until he joined ICIQ as Group Leader in Spain in 2010. In 2019, he undertook a new challenge as Professor of Catalysis Engineering at Delft University of Technology. His research team combines fundamental and applied research and focuses on the rational development of heterogeneous catalysts and processes aided by in situ and operando methodologies.

Prof. George Kyzas

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Prof. George Kyzas
International  Hellenic University, Greece​
Title: Application of graphene in environmental applications: The case of adsorption process
Dr. George Z. Kyzas is a Professor at the Department of Chemistry at the International  Hellenic University (IHU). He studied Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh). He obtained his BSc, MSc, and PhD from the Department of Chemistry (AUTh) expertised in Chemical Technology and Materials Science. He is now working at the Department of Chemistry (International  Hellenic University), being the Head/President of the Department (from 2019). His research interests include the synthesis of various materials (graphene, nanomaterials, inorganic, aluminates, polymers, agro-food residues, nanomaterials, CNTs, etc.) for environmental applications (i.e. treatment of wastewaters (dyes, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, phenols, oil-spills, etc)).
Dr. Kyzas scientific work has been published in more than 200 Papers in international journals with a high impact factor (IF,ave 5.5),  8 Books, 36 Chapters in scientific Books and his work resulted in 3 Patents. He also acted 7 times as Guest Editor at Special issues of journals and gave more than 100 talks/lectures in International Conferences. His work is widely recognized with 8,500 Citations based on Scopus database (h-index 53). His name is included in the list of World Top 2% Scientists for 2019, which is compiled by the Stanford University (USA) based on standardized citation indicators. He has been awarded with scholarships from the Research Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2009, 2013), the State Scholarship Foundation (2013) and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (2016). He was also participated in numerous research projects and he is a reviewer in more than 200 scientific journals. He participates as an assessor/reviewer/evaluator expert in Greek and European research projects.

INVITED SPEAKERS

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Viera Skakalova

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Viera Skakalova
University of Vienna, Austria
Institute of Electrical Engineering, Slovak Academy of Sciences,  Bratislava, Slovakia
Title: Towards Exotic Layered Materials: 2D Copper Iodide
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Viera Skákalová (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7016-8584) received her PhD in the field of conducting polymers from the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, where she became Associate Professor. In 1999 she joined the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Israel for 18 months; since 2001 she worked in the field of electronic transport in low-dimensional materials at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany. In 2012 she has been employed at the University of Vienna. Awarded a 10-month fellowship at the Cergy-Paris University since Oct 2019, it resulted in a strong cooperation on the topic of diamond graphitization. She joined the Slovak academy of sciences in Bratislava started since Sept 2020. Her expertise acquired at various research institutions has covered growth of low-dimensional structures (graphene, carbon nanotubes, 2D-MIx), electronic transport and magnetotransport, spectroscopy and high-resolution microscopy of low-dimensional materials. Viera Skákalová is a co-author of about 112 publications, mostly in fields of low-dimensional carbon structures with about 4400 citations (h-index: 30 (Scopus)), co-author of seven pedagogical publications and a book: Graphene: Properties, Preparation, Characterisation and Applications (2nd ed). She has coordinated several national and EC scientific projects, organized scientific conferences (E-MRS 2007, 2009, 2012, 2016 and others). In 2004 she cofounded a private research enterprise Danubia NanoTech, located in Bratislava.

Prof. Alla Zak

Prof. Alla Zak
Holon Institute of Technology, Israel
Title: WS2 & MoS2 from 3D to 1D structures: Curvature and chirality induced properties of nanotubes 
Prof. Alla Zak, is a head of the Laboratory for Synthesis and Investigation of Nanomaterials and Associate professor in the Faculty of Sciences in the HIT-Holon Institute of Technology, Israel. She is also a Scientific Adviser in the Department of Materials and Interfaces in Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel. Recently, she successfully scaled up the synthesis of the WS2 nanotubes, which paved the way for numerous scientific researches, for discovery of novel properties and opened new possibilities for using these materials in commercial products. Currently, Prof. Zak focuses her research on synthesis of nanospheres and nanotubes of transition metal dichalcogenides with modified properties for advanced applications. Alla Zak is an inventor of 2 patents and an author of 75 scientific papers in the field of inorganic nanomaterials.

Dr. Alexey Chervan

Dr. Alexey Chervan
Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Title: Molecular polyoxo- and thiometalate clusters as a bridge between homogeneous and heterogeneous photocatalysis
Alexey is currently a team leader and a PI at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien). He received his Master’s Degree in Chemistry from Moscow State University (Russia, 2010) and his Ph.D. Degree in Physical Chemistry from Münster University (Germany, 2014). After a short post-doctoral training, he joined the division of Molecular Materials Chemistry of the TU Wien (Austria, 2015) to pursue his habilitation. Throughout the years, Alexey has developed expertise with molecular (homogeneous) and solid-state (heterogeneous) photocatalysts – including their synthesis, characterization, and activity evaluation. He is especially interested in implementing well-defined molecular co-catalysts including all-inorganic clusters and single-metal-sites on the surface of light-absorbing semiconducting supports. Alexey has published more than 30 papers, many in highly respected journals, and delivered more than 20 oral, invited, and highlight talks at international conferences. In his TEDx talk (2020), Alexey outlined the perspectives and challenges of artificial photosynthesis for the energy sector. 

Dr. Larysa Baraban

Dr. Larysa Baraban
Helmholtz Center Dresden Rossendorf, Germany
Title: Nanoscopic sensor elements in the world of cancer research
Dr Larysa Baraban is a group leader of 'Nano-microsystems for life sciences' at the Helmholtz Center Dresden Rossendorf in Germany. She completed her PhD in the University of Konstanz, Germany in 2008 in the Department of Physics. After a stint as a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Pierre and Marie Curie, France, she moved to TU Dresden, Germany, where she worked as a postdoctoral research fellow from 2011 until 2013. Dr Baraban's research revolves around the use of nanomaterial-based biosensors and systems, flexible sensors for point-of-care diagnostics, microfluidics for high throughput biochemical analysis, artificial nano- and micromachines and magnetic soft matter.

Prof. Ron Naaman

Prof. Ron Naaman
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Title: Chiral molecules and the electron spin- A new approach towards nanotechnology
Ron Naaman is a Professor Emeritus at the Department Of Chemical and Biological Physics at the Weizmann Institute in Israel. Over the years, Ron investigated new electronic properties that emerge when organic molecules are interacting with an inorganic substrate and with electrons to discover a new phenomenon known as Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS) effect. This means that electron transport through chiral molecules is spin dependent, an effect of great relevance in Biology, Chemistry and Physics.​

Prof. Hongwei Duan

Prof. ​Hongwei Duan
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Title: Functional Nanoparticles-Enabled Biodetection and Controlled Delivery of Biologics
Hongwei Duan is an associate professor in the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). His current research focuses on understanding surface/interface properties of micro- and nano-structures for tailored optical, electronic, magnetic, catalytic, and structural properties, and exploring their biomedical and environmental applications. 

Prof. Ehrenfried Zschech

Prof. Ehrenfried Zschech
deepXscan GmbH, Dresden, Germany, Germany
Title: Customized nano-XCT solutions for operando studies of electrochemical processes
Ehrenfried Zschech is CTO and Co-Founder of deepXscan GmbH, Dresden, Germany. His responsibilities include R&D in the field of high-resolution X-ray imaging and the development of customized solutions for a broad range of applications. He holds an adjunct professorship at Faculty of Chemistry of Warsaw University as well as honorary professorships for Nanomaterials at Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus and for Nanoanalysis at Dresden University of Technology. Ehrenfried Zschech is Member of the Senate of the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) and Honorary Member of the Federation of the European Materials Societies (FEMS). In 2019, he was awarded with the FEMS European Materials Gold Medal.

Prof. Jochen Lauterbach

Prof. ​Jochen Lauterbach
University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States
Title: Machine learning combined with high-throughput experimentation: a powerful combination for the discovery of novel catalysts
Professor Lauterbach received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in the group of the 2007 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Prof. G. Ertl. After a post-doc at the University of California at Santa Barbara, he joined the Chemical Engineering faculty at Purdue University in 1996 and moved to the University of Delaware in 2002. He joined the University of South Carolina in July 2010 as Smartstate Endowed Chair and Director of the South Carolina SmartState Center for Strategic Approaches to the Generation of Electricity. Professor Lauterbach's research interests are in the area of heterogeneous catalysis and functional nanomaterials synthesis, as applied to environmental processes improving power generation from fossil fuels, generation of synthetic fuels from methane and carbon dioxide, upstream fuel generation from ammonia for fuel cells, and biomass torrefaction.

Prof. Eyal Zussman

Prof.​ Eyal Zussman
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Title: Long-range ordered structure formation in polyelectrolyte chains
Eyal Zussman is the Winograd Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Since joining the Technion, he has served as Director of the NanoEngineering Group. His research interests are in the area of molecular engineering of soft matter, in particular, the development of process-structure-property relationships, through the use of simulation and experiment, the development of functional electrospun fibers, and long-range ordering of polyelectrolyte chains.

Prof. Gerardo F. Goya

Prof.​ Gerardo F. Goya
University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
Dr. Gerardo F. Goya is an associate professor at the University of Zaragoza, Spain. He has been Associate Professor at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and he is currently a researcher at the Institute of Nanoscience of Aragón (INA), University of Zaragoza. 
His team has developed engineered MNPs for neural guidance under externally applied magnetic fields. He has over 130 publications on nanomagnetism and bioapplications and holds two patents. Prof. Goya has lead the design, development, and building of devices for measuring power absorption for magnetic hyperthermia, which made the basis for a spin-off company, nB Nanoscale Biomagnetics, of which he is co-founder and scientific advisor.

Prof. Jose Paulo Farinha

Prof. ​Jose Paulo Farinha
Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Jose Paulo Farinha is currently at Instituto Superior Tecnico, University of Lisbon. He works in the areas of Materials Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry, focusing in the research and development of novel advanced functional materials, in particular nanostructured materials, featuring significant interaction with light, with applications in the energy, biomedical and environmental fields. Key interest areas are: - Functinal nanomaterials; - Nanoparticles; - Polymers and Colloids; - Emulsion and miniemulsion polymerization; - Controled polymerization; - Polymer coatings; - Optical sensor nanomaterials; - Fluorescence applications and laser scanning microscopy.

Prof. Samy El-Shall

Prof. Samy El-Shall
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA
Title: Graphene-based Materials for Applications in Heterogeneous Catalysis, Water Treatment and Solar Water Desalination
El-Shall received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Cairo University, and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University. He did postdoctoral research in nucleation and clusters at UCLA. His research interests include nanostructured materials, graphene and nanocatalysis for energy and environmental applications, gas phase clusters and nucleation. He has published over 260 refereed papers and review chapters, and he holds ten US patents on the synthesis of nanomaterials, nanoparticle catalysts, graphene, and graphene-supported catalysts.
Dr. El-Shall was selected as a Jefferson Science Fellow and worked as a Senior Science Advisor at the U.S. Department of State in 2012-2013. Dr. El-Shall received the Virginia Outstanding Scientist in 2018 awarded by the Governor of Virginia. He is an elected Fellow of both the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Assoc. Prof. Krishna Chaitanya

Assoc. Prof. Krishna Chiatanya
School of Chemical Sciences, SRTM University, India
Krishna Chaitanya received his PhD in 2009 from IICT Hyderabad. Has was a visiting scientist (2012/2013): Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Research fellow (2014/2015) at the Materials Research Laboratory, University of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica, Slovenia. He has been awarded with CSIR-SRF (2005): Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi and young scientist (2012): Awarded by Department of Science and Technology (DST-SERB), New Delhi, India. He has published more than 35 scientific articles.

Prof. Oded Millo

Prof. Oded Millo
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
Title: Unconventional superconductivity in hybrid systems comprising chiral molecules, graphene and ferromagnets
Oded Millo performed his Ph.D. research in Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studying excitations at metallic surfaces.  Was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Yale University, focusing there on quantum-transport and mesoscopic physics. He is now a full professor at the Racah Institute of Physics.  His current research focuses on local-probe and transport studies of unconventional superconductivity (including high Tc and triplet-pairing superconductivity), nanostructured semiconductor systems (isolated nanocrystals and their assemblies), as well as photo-conductance properties of solar-cell materials. These works resulted in about 170 publications and h-index of 43. He was among the founders of the Hebrew University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and also served as the Head of Physics Department. Currently he is the Vice-Dean for Study Affairs at the Faculty of Sciences at the Hebrew University.  Millo holds the Harry de Jur Chair in Applied Science, and he is a recipient of the IVS and the Young Researchers Landau prizes.

Dr. Artem Mishchenko

Dr. ​Artem Mishchenko
University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom​
Title: Rediscovering graphite: new physics in the old semimetal
Artem Mishchenko works in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester; his research focuses on quantum transport in novel materials. The major contributions to this field have been published in over 90 peer-refereed papers, many in Science and Nature journals, leading to more than 16000 citations and h-index of 40. He has initiated several new research directions, such as a tunnelling and capacitance spectroscopy of van der Waals heterostructures; his works led to the development of many new functional devices, including nanoscale tunnelling transistors and photovoltaic sensors. As a recognition of his achievements, he has received several prestigious awards including SNSF Fellowship, EPSRC Fellowship, ERC Consolidator Grant, and EMFL Prize 2018. He is also named in 2018 and 2019 lists of Highly Cited Researchers from Clarivate Analytics.

Prof. Antonio Villaverde

Prof. Antonio Villaverde
Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
A. Villaverde is Chair Professor of Microbiology at the Department of Genetics and Microbiology and leader of the Nanobiotechnology group at the Institute for Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. He coordinates a research team of about 20 people working on the design of nano- and micro-scale protein materials for biomedical applications. Prof. Villaverde has authored more than 270 peer-reviewed research and review papers on microbiology, biotechnology and nanosciences, apart from several books, book chapters and patents. A. Villaverde founded the Open-Access journal Microbial Cell Factories, of which he has been Editor-in-Chief from 2002 to 2016.

Prof. David Munoz-Rojas

Prof. ​David Munoz-Rojas
Universite Grenoble Alpes, Saint Martin d'Heres, France
Title: Open-air processing of innovative nanocomposite transparent conductive materials with spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (SALD)
Dr. David Muñoz-Rojas received his degree in organic chemistry in 1999 and master’s degree in chemical engineering (2000) from the Instituto Químico de Sarrià (IQS, Barcelona, Spain), obtaining the P. Salvador Gil, S.I. 2000 prize. He did his PhD in materials science (2004) at the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Barcelona (CSIC-UAB). Thereafter, he worked as a postdoc at the Laboratoire de Réactivité et Chimie des Solides in Amiens (France), the Research Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Barcelona, and the University of Cambridge (Device Materials Group, UK). Dr. Muñoz-Rojas is currently a permanent CNRS researcher at the Laboratoire des Matériaux et du Génie Physique in Grenoble, France. He has been awarded two Marie Curie Fellowships (IEF in 2008 and CIG in 2014). His research focuses on using and developing cheap and scalable chemical approaches for the fabrication of novel functional materials for electronic and optoelectronic applications. In particular, he has pioneered the development of the novel spatial atomic layer deposition (SALD) technique for the deposition of active components for optoelectronic devices. 

Dr. Alex Robertson

Dr. Alex Robertson
University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Title: Using in-situ TEM to reveal nanoscale dynamics in energy materials
Dr Robertson is a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the Department of Materials, Oxford. His current interests lie in the application of in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques toward understanding degradation mechanisms in materials for energy storage applications. Prior to this, his field of interest was two-dimensional materials, in particular their synthesis by chemical vapour deposition and their atomic level characterisation by TEM.

Prof. Tomasz Puzyn

Prof. ​Tomasz Puzyn
University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland
Head of the Laboratory of Environmental Chemometrics at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Gdansk. Current research interests of the Team relates to the development of computer methods to support the design of new products (nanomaterials, ionic liquids) that are safe for human health and the environment.
Professor Puzyn is the author of over 70 scientific articles in leading journals. His work has been cited more than 1,000 times. He is also the winner of many prestigious national and international awards, i.e.: individual scholarship of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of Science, grants of the Foundation for Polish Science (programmes: START, HOMING and FOCUS), a scholarship of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education holder and the winner of the Polish Prime Minister Prize for the best habilitation thesis in 2012.

Prof. ​Lifeng Liu

Prof. ​Lifeng Liu
International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Braga, Portugal
Title: High-performance water splitting electrocatalysts
Lifeng Liu received both his Master (2004) and PhD (2007) degrees in Condensed Matter Physics from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He joined Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in 2007, first working as a postdoctoral researcher and then as a staff scientist. He started his independent research career in 2008 and became a Group Leader in 2009. In 2011, he moved to the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) and set up a research group there, where his research interest primarily focuses on nanomaterials for use in water electrolysis, photoelectrochemical cells, rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors.

Prof. ​Pitchaimuthu Sudhagar

Prof. ​Pitchaimuthu Sudhagar
​Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom
Title: Nanomaterials for Solar Fuel Generation
​Dr. Sudhagar graduated from Physics discipline, Bharathiar University, India in 2009. He was working as Research Assistant Professor during 2009-2013 under Prof. Yong Soo Kang at Center for Next Generation Dye-sensitized Solar Cells in Hanyang University, South Korea. Concurrently, he has been serving as visiting scientist to Department of Applied Physics, University of Jaume I, Spain from 2011. He was a recipient of JSPS award from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan in 2013. 
He is leading "Multifunctional Photocatalyst and Coating" research group at Swansea University. His research expertise is ‘nanomaterial synthesis and coatings’ towards constructing low-cost solar energy driven photoelectrochemical system/devices.

Prof. Marco Monopoli

Prof. Marco Monopoli
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
Dr. Marco Monopoli is  Lecturer in the RCSI Chemistry Department where he is establishing a multi-disciplinary centre focused on obtaining a complete understanding of the mechanisms of interaction between nanomaterials and living systems essential for Nanomedicine, Nanotoxicology applications and to evaluate their Environmental Impact.
Dr Monopoli's studies have been focused on revealing the forces that govern bio-nano interactions and in understanding the biological implications of the protein corona.

Prof. Piotr Warszynski

Prof. Piotr Warszynski
Polish Academy of Science, Krakow, Poland
Title: Nanocarriers formed by the sequential adsorption of polyelectrolytes as targeted and theranostic delivery systems
Piotr Warszynski is a Professor and Deputy Director for Research at Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences. His research work focus on:
- Electrokinetic phenomena and adsorption of polyelectrolytes, nanoparticles and colloids; 
- Wetting phenomena; stability of thin foam and wetting films;
- Description of the electric double layer structure at interfaces;

Prof. Bernhard C. Bayer

Prof. Bernhard C. Bayer 
TU Wien, Austria
Title: Single-Atom Anchoring via Heteroatoms onto Graphene
Bernhard C. Bayer is a junior research group leader at the TU Wien, Austria (www.nanobayer.com). Our research interests are synthesis, integration and characterisation of low-dimensional nanomaterials with a particular focus on two-dimensional (2D) materials. Using advanced in-situ and high-resolution materials characterisation techniques, we develop rational synthesis and integration protocols for 2D materials. We in particular employ a unique combination of spectroscopic and diffractive in-situ techniques during realistic processing conditions coupled with high-resolution (scanning) transmission electron microscopy ((S)TEM). Before joining TU Wien as junior research group leader, Dr. Bayer held a Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship from the European Commission at the Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Austria and prior to this he was a College Research Fellow at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK. He holds a PhD degree and a Master degree from the University of Cambridge, UK as well as a Bachelor degree from the Graz University of Technology, Austria. To get in touch follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nanobayer.

Prof. Martin Kalbac

Prof. ​Martin Kalbac
Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
Title: Rational modification of 2D materials
Martin Kalbac graduated in inorganic chemistry from Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, (1998), where he also received his Ph.D. degree in 2002 and has been habilitated in the field of inorganic chemistry (2019).  Since 2001 he has worked at the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Currently, he is a vice-director of the institute and the head of the Department of Low dimensional Systems. His research interests include carbon nanotubes, 2D materials, Raman spectroscopy and spectroelectrochemistry, isotope engineering of carbon nanostructures and sensorics

Prof. Sixto Gimenez Julia

Prof. Sixto Gimenez Julia
Universitat Jaume I, Castelló, Spain
Title: Materials, electrodes and devices for (photo)electrochemical production of fuels and high added-value chemicals
Sixto Giménez (M. Sc. Physics 1996, Ph. D. Physics 2002) is Full Professor at Universitat Jaume I de Castelló (Spain). His professional career has been focused on the study of micro and nanostructured materials for different applications spanning from structural components to optoelectronic devices. In January 2008, he joined the University Jaume I where he is involved in the development of new concepts for photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical devices based on nanoscaled materials, particularly studying the optoelectronic and electrochemical responses of the devices by electrical impedance spectroscopy. He has co-authored more than 100 scientific papers in international journals and has received more than 6700 citations. His current h-index is 37 (Web of Science). He also has an important diffusion activity reflected in four book chapters and one edited book, all this production published by important international publishers (Springer, Wiley and World Scientific). He has also served in different national and international assessment committees for the evaluation of scientific and technological proposals.

Prof. Benoit Heinrichs

Prof. Benoit Heinrichs
University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
Benoît Heinrichs is a chemical engineer from the University of Liège, ULg (1993). During his PhD thesis in engineering at both the University of Liège and the Solvay company (1999), he developed bimetallic sol-gel catalysts for hydrodechlorination of industrial by-products.
In 2001, he moved to the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands to develop iron-based catalysts for N2O abatement. He came back to ULg in 2002 where he was appointed as permanent researcher. In 2009, he was appointed as professor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences where he teaches chemistry and thermodynamics to students in bachelor in engineering.
Within the Nanomaterial Catalysis Electrochemistry group, he is leading the Nanomaterials & Interfaces team which focuses on the design and production of nanostructured materials, on their characterization, and on their applications, especially in environmental catalysis and photocatalysis, in functionalized surface coatings and in microbatteries design.

Dr. Shaghayegh Naghdi

Dr. Shaghayegh Naghdi
Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Title: Selective Ligand Removal Strategy to Improve Photocatalysis and Water/wastewater Purification
Shaghayegh is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria. She received her master's degree in organic chemistry from Kharazmi University in Tehran, focusing on the synthesis and characterization of novel thermally stable polyamides. She then moved to Vienna to begin her Ph.D. in Molecular Materials Chemistry. She obtained her Doctor of Natural Science degree in April 2022. Shaghayegh's research interests revolve around the synthesis and characterization of MOFs for different applications. She has developed a strategy called selective ligand removal (e.g., via selective oxidation, thermal degradation, or dissolution) to design novel hierarchical microporous-mesoporous MOFs that facilitate reactant diffusion as well as induce uncoordinated centers as potential catalytic sites for photocatalytic applications and conversion efficiency for H2 formation and CO2 reduction and new adsorbent sites for water purification.

Prof. Philippe Miele

Prof. Philippe Miele
​European Institute of Membranes (IEM) - ENSCM/UM/CNRS, France
Title: 2D MATERIALS-BASED NANOSTRUCTURED INTERFACES FOR MEMBRANE AND ENERGY APPLICATIONS
Philippe MIELE received his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry in 1993 at the University of Montpellier. He was recruited in the University of Lyon in 1993 as Assistant Professor and became Professor in 2000. In this University, he was the Director of the Laboratory of Multimaterials and Interfaces, from 2003 up to 2010. In fall 2010, he joined the European Institute of Membranes, setting up a new group. In 2011, he has been appointed as Head of the EIM till 2020. His research interests lie in boron chemistry, particularly for molecules and materials for energy, environmental and health applications. He is mostly recognized as an expert in the field of non-oxide advanced ceramics using the Polymer Derived Ceramics route. Philippe MIELE has co-authored around 330 papers in international journals (Scopus documents, H = 57), 13 patents and has given more than 45 invited talks in international meetings. Up today, he has supervised 42 PhD students and is the supervisor of 6 PhD thesis in progress. He was nominated junior member (2003) then senior member (2016) of the “Institut Universitaire de France” (IUF) and has been elected in 2011 at the "World Academy of Ceramics" (class "Science). Since june 2019, he is also the Director of the Chemistry Research Department of the University of Montpellier.

Dr. Dogukan H. Apaydin

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Dr. Dogukan H. Apaydin
Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Title: Metal Organic Chalcogenolate Assemblies (MOCHAs) as Prospective Materials for Catalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide
Dogukan is currently a sub-group leader at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien). He received his Master Degree from METU (Ankara, Turkey) and his PhD degree in Physical Chemistry from Johannes Kepler University Linz (Linz, Austria) in 2018 (under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci). Afterwards, he joined Institute of Science and Technology Austria as a postdoctoral researcher. Since 2020 he is pursuing his habilitation at the Materials Chemistry Institute at TU Wien working together with Prof. Eder. Dogukan’s research focuses on photo- and electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide as well as photoelectrochemical hydrogen production from waste water using organic-inorganic hybrid materials.

Prof. Peter Sutter

Prof. Peter Sutter
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
Title: Van der Waals Nanostructures by Vapor-Liquid-Solid Growth
Peter Sutter is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich). He held positions as Assistant/Associate Professor of Physics at the Colorado School of Mines and as Staff Scientist and Group Leader in the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Laboratory before joining the University of Nebraska in 2015. His research focuses on synthesis, electronic and optoelectronic properties of two-dimensional materials, van der Waals heterostructures, layered nanowires and other nanomaterials, studied by in-situ microscopy and advanced spectroscopy techniques. Among his awards are the NSF Career Award, the Scientific American 50 Award, and the Sapphire Prize. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, presented over 100 invited talks, and holds 8 U.S. Patents.

Dr. Maria Kovacova

Dr. Maria Kovacova
Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic
Polymer Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Title: Carbon quantum dots boosted by plasma generated with multi-hollow discharge to improve antibacterial effect​
Research Scientist in the Dept. of Composite Materials at Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia. Moreover, Postdoc in the Dept. of Physical Electronics, Research Group Plasma Nanotechnologies and Bioapplications at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. She obtained PhD degree in the field of macromolecular chemistry at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava in 2020. During her doctoral studies, she worked on the topic of developing a novel type of antibacterial hydrophobic carbon quantum dots and other photosensitizers. She works in the interdisciplinary research of antibacterial polymer nanocomposites and the preparation of new types of nanomaterials for biomedical applications. Also, working on the development of the innovative polymer materials for 3D printing. Currently also researching activation and functionalization of (nano)materials and surfaces of polymer materials with plasma generated at atmospheric pressure by DBD plasma source.

Prof. Reiner Timm

Prof. Reiner Timm
NanoLund and Department of Physics, Lund University, Sweden
Title: Semiconductor nanowires: Surfaces and devices studied by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
Rainer Timm is Associate Professor at the Department of Physics at Lund University, Sweden. He is head of the Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research and coordinator of the Lund NanoCharacterization Labs. Before coming to Sweden, he had worked at TU Berlin, Germany. His research focuses on the atomic-scale characterization of semiconductor nanostructures, including analysis of the atomic surface structure, resulting local electronic properties, the chemical and structural composition of interfaces, and in-situ studies of such nanostructure properties during device operation.

Prof. Antonio Guerrero Castillejo

Prof. Antonio Guerrero Castillejo
Jaume I University, Castello, Spain
Title: Make electrons flow in hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics and memory applications
Antonio Guerrero is a chemist specialized in the synthesis and use of organic semiconducting materials for its implementation in a variety of electrical devices. Educated in Chemistry Antonio Guerrero completed a PhD funded by Bayer in Organometallic Chemistry at the University of East Anglia (UK). The research topic involved the synthesis of new synthetic polymers and organometallic catalysts. Subsequently, he worked during 4 years at Cambridge Display Technology where he learnt the operation principles of Organic Light Emitting Diodes. Antonio was in charge of the design and synthesis of different structural units to produce efficient OLEDs. During this position Antonio had the opportunity to develop his career by leading small focused projects and whilst managing other scientists one of his ideas was patented. In 2010 Antonio joined the group directed by Prof. Juan Bisquert at Universitat Jaume I. In his role Antonio Guerrero has helped to develop a line on Organic Photovoltaics and Organic Photoelectrochemical cells. Overall, he is the author of 36 research articles, one complete book and he is the inventor of two patents, both currently under exploitation. His currently research interests cover a wide range of energy devices.

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