Photoelectrochemical Engineering for Solar Harvesting: Chemistry, Materials, Devices

Dr. Samrana Kazim is an Ikerbasque fellow and Group leader at Basque Centre for Materials, Applications, and Nanostructures (UPV). Before this, she worked as a tenured senior scientist, at Abengoa Research, a corporate research center of a multinational energy company in Spain. She obtained her doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in Materials chemistry. After finishing her Ph.D., she briefly worked as a post-doc at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Kanpur) and then moved to the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry (IMC), Prague on an IUPAC/UNESCO fellowship and then later was a staff scientist there. She has authored over 80 research articles in reputed journals in the fields of material science, nanotechnology, and energy; also authored and edited book chapters and inventor of numerous patents in energy conversion and storage. Her research interests include synthesis and electro-optical characterization of organic semiconductors, hybrid nanostructured materials for optoelectronics applications, and perovskite solar cells.

Muhammad Nawaz Tahir earned his Ph.D. in 2006 from Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) of Mainz, Germany with the distinction “Summa Cum Laude under the supervision of Prof. W. Tremel. Later, as a post-doctoral fellow, he underwent many research projects funded by DFG, MWFZ, and Max Plank Society. In 2010, he joined the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry JGU Mainz, as senior scientist and group leader for nanomaterials synthesis, characterization, and applications. Since September 2017, he joined the Chemistry Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as an Assistant Professor. His research publication list reflects interdisciplinary contributions. His research interests involve the synthesis of innovative nanomaterials, characterization, surface engineering for renewable energy conversion and energy storage applications.

Shahzada Ahmad is an Ikerbasque professor; his scientific interests include materials for energy. From 2012 to 2017, he was program director at Abengoa Research, a corporate research center. His scientific publications list reflects his diverse fields of interest in the domains of physical chemistry and materials science, with a research mission to develop advanced materials for energy application. His work has led to the invitation to speak at many scientific or policy-based conferences. He is an inventor of patents, Chief Editor of “Emergent Materials, editorial board member of journals, European research council consolidator grant awardee, an elected fellow of the European Academies, distinguished scientist (

Dr. Sanjay Mathur is the director of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Cologne in Germany. He is the Co-Director of the Institute of Renewable Energy Sources at the Xian Jiao Tong University, Xian, China and a World Class University Professor at the Chonbuk University in Korea. He also holds Visiting Professorships at the Central South University, China, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan and National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), India. He has been awarded the Honorary Doctorate of the Vilnius University in 2016.