Prof. Dr. Christoph Brabec

Prof. Christoph J. Brabec is a researcher for photovoltaics and printable semiconductors (organic, inorganic, hybrid). He is one of the top 100 best materials scientists in the world and number 12 in Thomson Reuter's ranking. He is also the most cited scientist in his field.

Curriculum Vitae

• 2018 – 2023: Appointment as Honorary Professor at the University Groningen
• 2018 – 2023: Appointment as Director at the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg (HI-ErN), FZJ
• 2015 – 2017: Appointment as the Head of the Material Science and Engineering Department, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen Nürnberg
• 2013 – 2016: Appointed as Head of Board of ZAE Bayern eV
• 2013: Appointed as Speaker of the International Center for Nanostructured Films (IZNF) at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg
• 2010 – 2018: Appointment as Board Member of the Energy Campus Nürnberg (EnCN) eV
• 2009 – 2018: Appointment as Executive Board Member of the ZAE Bayern
• 2009 – ongoing: Appointment to the scientific director of the ZAE Bayern, Erlangen
• since 2009: Professor (W3), Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET), Materials Science and Engineering Department, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg
• 04/2006: Appointment to the CTO and Vice President at Konarka Technologies, Lowell, USA
• 2005: Appointment to the CEO for Konarka Austria and Konarka Nürnberg
• 08/2004: Appointment to Director of OPV at Konarka Technologies, Lowell, USA
• 2004 – 2009: Various positions at Konarka Technologies after a successful outsourcing of the organic photovoltaics activities from Siemens (PV research, organic semiconductor development, coating and printing process development, reliability, lifetime and product engineering)
• 2001 – 2004: Principal research scientist & project leader, Siemens Corporate Technology, Department Microsystems and Materials, Erlangen, Germany (solar cells, displays, electrochromic windows, photo- and X-Ray detectors)
• 1998 – 2001: Principal Investigator, CD Laboratory for Plastic Solar Cells, Linz, Austria (photovoltaics, printing and coating technologies, organic electronics)
• 1996: Sabbatical at the Institute for Polymers & Organic Solids at the University of California, Santa Barbara (Prof. Alan J. Heeger, Nobel laureate 2000 for Chemistry)
• 1995 – 1998: Research Assistant, Kepler University of Linz, Austria
• 1995: Promotion (Dr. tech), Institute of Physical Chemistry (Prof Schausberger, Prof Janeschitz-Kriegl), Johannes Kepler University Linz
• 1992 Physics Diploma, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Theoretical Physics

Research Topics:

• Development and investigation of solution processed solar cells, with a strong focus on the development of novel materials, investigation of microstructure and morphology formation in organic, hybrid and inorganic semiconductor composites and on fundamentals of thin film solar cells.

• Development of low cost production technologies for semiconductor devices building on ultraprecision printing & coating technologies and ultrafast laser patterning.

• Development of advanced optoelectronic devices for renewable energy applications like (i) 3rd generation solar cell technologies (ii) lighting and (iii) light management.

• Development and application of non-destructive imaging methods for optoelectronic devices, like EL or IR imaging.

• Development of combinatorial and high throughput methods for the discovery of energy materials and energy devices.

• Renewable energy systems and components for energy generation and storage