Professor Henry Snaith has been awarded the Outstanding Young Investigator Award for his work with perovskite-based solar cells by the Materials Research Society.
Snaith, a professor of physics at Oxford University, has been recognised for his work on developing a new generation of thin-film photovoltaics that can be used in non-traditional applications like the glass facades of buildings.
Speaking about the award, Professor Snaith said: “I am delighted to be held in such esteem by the Materials Research Society. It is a great honour to receive the award and recognition such as this really helps to raise the profile of the exciting developments we are making in solar technology which we believe will result in a transformational change across the world.”
Last year, Nature Magazine named Professor Snaith in its annual list of ten people who have made a difference to science – the only UK scientist to be included. Professor Snaith’s perovskite-based solar cells recently achieved conversion efficiencies of 17%.
In 2010, Professor Snaith co-founded Oxford PV, which has exclusively licensed and is commercialising his technology. Kevin Arthur, CEO and co-founder of Oxford PV added: “We’re obviously delighted for Henry’s work to be recognised in this way and it helps raise the profile of this ground-breaking technology. We’re making rapid progress towards commercialisation and expect to sign the first licensing deal with a glass manufacturer during 2015. As efficiencies continue to rise, we’re looking at utility applications, alongside the BIPV market, and are extremely optimistic that our product will be in use by 2017 or even sooner.”