Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria, EU
Position: Director of Institute for Physical Chemistry, Founding Director of the Linz Institute for Organic Solar cells (LIOS) at the Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria
Specialization: Organic Solar Cells, Solar Energy Conversion CO2 Recycling, Bio-organic Electronics
Personal Background and Education:
Prof. N. S. Sarıçiftçi (*1961 in Konya, Turkey) studied at the University of Vienna (Austria) and graduated as Ph.D. in physics in 1989. After two years postdoctoral study at the University of Stuttgart (Germany) he joined the Institute for Polymers and Organic Solids at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, by Prof. Alan J. HEEGER, Nobel laureate 2000 for Chemistry.
Research Interests and main results:
N. S. Sarıçiftçi specializes in the field of organic semiconductors and their applications. Major contributions of Prof. N. S. Sarıçiftçi are in the fields of photo-induced optical, magnetic resonance and transport phenomena in semiconducting and metallic polymers. He is the inventor of conjugated polymer and fullerene based "bulk heterojunction" solar cells.
Publication activity:
Prof. Sarıçiftçi published over 600 publications and with over 72 000 citations; he is one of the most cited scientists in material science (2011, Thomson Reuter ranking No: 14 of the world in material science, Hirsch Index: 114). Sarıçiftçi has composed 8 books and educated several academic and industrial scientists. He also initiated seven spin off companies for organic optoelectronics.
Awards:
He is a recipient of several prizes among them the National Science Prize of Turkey 2006 and the Austrian Scientists of the year Prize for Research 2008. He received the Medal for Humanity of the City of Linz 2009 and the Kardinal Prize for Science of the Archbishop in Vienna 2010. In 2012 he was awarded the prestigious Wittgenstein Prize of Austria.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), Fellow of SPIE, and member of several societies such as American Chemical Society, Materials Research Society, Austrian Chemical Society and Austrian Physical Society. He was selected as a corresponding member of the Academy of Science in Austria (ÖAW). Sarıçiftçi has been awarded honorary doctorate by the Abo Academy in Finland in 2011 and University of Bucharest in Romania in 2012.
Recently, Sarıçiftçi received the TÜBA Science Prize of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (2015) and selected as a member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences in 2017.