Joint SFN-SuperSolar Symposium: Materials for Solar Energy Conversion

26 April 2017, Imperial College London

The first joint Solar Fuels Network-SuperSolar Supergen Hub symposium took place on 26th April 2017 at Imperial College London. The Symposium featured several invited speakers, focusing on Materials for Solar Energy Conversion.  The event was chaired by Profs Jenny Nelson (Imperial College), Erwin Reisner (Cambridge University and now SFN Director) and Mike Walls (Loughborough University and Director of the SuperSolar Supergen).

The aim of the meeting was to bring together the UK PV and Solar Fuels/Artificial Photosynthesis communities. This provided the opportunity for researchers to discuss shared interests around the fundamentals of materials for solar energy conversion.

Academics from across the UK gave invited talks: Prof Erwin Reisner, Dr Elizabeth Gibson (Newcastle University), Prof James Durrant (Imperial College and original SFN Director), Prof Andy Cooper (Liverpool University), Prof Neil Robertson (Edinburgh University), Prof David Fermin (Bristol University), Prof Jenny Nelson, Prof Mark van Schilfgaarde (KCL) and Prof Upul Wijayantha (Loughborough University).

​

Around 120 students, postdocs, and academics attended the symposium, representing both the SFN and SuperSolar Hub. Over 30 posters were presented by postdocs and PhD students from across the UK. Congratulations to Georgina Hutton (PhD student, Cambridge University) for winning the poster competition, and to Wai-Yu Sit (PhD student at Imperial College) and Ellie Tanaka (PhD student at the University of Edinburgh) for winning the runner-up prizes!

From the end of April 2017, the SFN has entered an exciting new phase, in partnership with SuperSolar. Many thanks are due to James Durrant for his leadership, engagement and vision during his directorship of the SFN. We are delighted that Erwin Reisner is now taking the SFN forward into the future!

The next SFN event will be the 6th UK Solar Fuels Symposium, 19-20 March 2018, at the University of York, which will be chaired by Prof Robin Perutz.