Professor Henry Snaith Elected A Fellow Of The Royal Society
Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd (Oxford PV), has announced that its Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Professor Henry Snaith has been made a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his ground-breaking research and development into photovoltaic technology.
The Fellowship of the Royal Society is made up of the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from, or living and working in, the UK or Commonwealth. Past Fellows have included Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Christopher Wren, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
At 37, Professor Snaith, who is a Professor of Physics at Oxford University, is the youngest in the 2015 intake of 59 newly elected Fellows who have distinguished themselves in their field of science, technology or engineering.
In its citation, the Royal Society said:
"˜Professor Henry Snaith has pioneered the development of hybrid materials for energy and photovoltaics through an interdisciplinary combination of materials synthesis, device development, advanced optoelectronic characterisations and theoretical studies.
He has created new materials with advanced functionality and enhanced understanding of fundamental mechanisms. His recent discovery of extremely efficient thin-film solar cells manufactured from organic-inorganic metal halide perovskites has reset aspirations within the photovoltaics community.
His work has started a new field of research, attracting both academic and industrial following, propelled by the prospect of delivering a higher efficiency photovoltaic technology at a much lower cost than existing silicon PV.'
In 2010, Professor Snaith and Kevin Arthur co-founded Oxford Photovoltaics (Oxford PV), which has exclusively licensed and is commercialising his perovskite-based solar technology. Perovskite is the fastest improving solar cell technology ever seen and Oxford PV is leading the global development and commercialisation of this exciting new material.
The company expects to sign its first licensing deal with a PV cell manufacturer during 2016, where the use of an additional perovskite layer will improve the efficiency of silicon based solar cells by up to 20%. In addition, the company is targeting the emerging building integrated PV market with glass based perovskite solar cells for use in building facades.
Kevin Arthur, CEO and Co-Founder of Oxford PV said;
"Henry deserves his place alongside other great scientists who have played a part in some of the most significant and life-changing discoveries in scientific history.
This is a great honour for Henry and his research team and we hope it will raise the profile of the exciting developments Oxford PV is making in solar technology, which we believe will result in a transformational change across the world."
