Michael Grätzel

Michael Grätzel
Born	11 May 1944 (1944-05-11) (age 67) Dorfchemnitz, Sachsen
Residence	Switzerland
Nationality	Swiss
Fields	photochemistry
Institutions	École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Known for	Dye-sensitized solar cells

Michael Grätzel (born in 11 May 1944, in Dorfchemnitz, Sachsen ^[1]) is a professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne where he directs the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic-materials and their optoelectronic applications. He discovered a new type of solar cell based on dye sensitized mesoscopic oxide particles and pioneered the use of nanomaterials in lithium ion batteries.^[2][3]

Author of over 800 publications, two books and inventor or co-inventor of over 50 patents, he was a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley, the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan (Paris) and is presently part-time distinguished visiting professor at the Delft University of Technology. He was a frequent guest scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, was a fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. He has received numerous awards including the Millennium 2000 European innovation prize, the 2001 Faraday Medal of the British Royal Society, the 2001 Dutch Havinga Award, the 2004 Italgas Prize, two McKinsey Venture awards in 1998 and 2002 and the 2005 Gerischer Prize. In 2007 he was awarded the Harvey Prize of Technion for pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic-materials and their optoelectronic applications. In 2009 he was awarded the Balzan Prize for the Science of New Materials. He holds a doctorate from the Technical University of Berlin and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Uppsala, Turin and Nova Gorica. He was elected honorary member of the Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles. Dr. Grätzel is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee at the IMDEA Nanoscience Institute.

Recognition

• On 9 June 2010, Grätzel received Millennium Technology Prize, for development of dye-sensitized solar cells. The cash prize, worth 800,000 euros, was awarded, in Helsinki, Finland, by the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen.^[4]

See also

• Grätzel cell
• Photoelectrochemical cell

Notes

1. ^ Pete Pokkinen: Huippututkija harkitsi nuorena pianistin uraa. Helsingin Sanomat, 10.6.2010, p. B7. (in Finnish)
2. ^ Millenium Technology Prize: PROFESSOR MICHAEL GRÄTZEL: DEVELOPER OF DYE-SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS
3. ^ Dye-Sensitized Titanium Dioxide
4. ^ "PROFESSOR GRÄTZEL WINS THE 2010 MILLENNIUM TECHNOLOGY GRAND PRIZE FOR DYE-SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS". Millennium Technology Prize. 9 June 2010. http://www.millenniumprize.fi/news/165/111/PROFESSOR-GRaeTZEL-WINS-THE-2010-MILLENNIUM-TECHNOLOGY-GRAND-PRIZE-FOR-DYE-SENSITIZED-SOLAR-CELLS/d,news_en/. Retrieved 9 June 2010. 

External links

• Homepage at the EPFL (contains a short biography)
• Grätzel, Michael at ISIHighlyCited.com

Preceded by Robert S. Langer

Millennium Technology Prize winner 2010 (for dye-sensitized solar cells)

Succeeded by TBA 2012

Persondata
Name	Gratzel, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	11 May 1944
Place of birth	Dorfchemnitz, Sachsen
Date of death
Place of death