Center for Light Energy Activated Redox Processes Receives Ten at Ten Award

Northwestern’s Robert P. H. Chang and Mercouri Kanatzidis, received one of The Ten at Ten Awards from the US Department of Energy (DOE).

The award recognizes their work in creating the first demonstration of all-solid-state solar cells using halide perovskite materials. Their work, first announced in 2012, helped to spark a revolution in photovoltaic science and technology that made halide perovskites the most researched optoelectronic materials this decade. The work was performed by Chang, Northwestern Engineering professor of materials science and engineering and former director of the Materials Research Institute, and Kanatzidis, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences’ Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry, senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, and (by courtesy) professor of materials science and engineering.

Chang and Kanatzidis’s work was conducted through the Center for Light Energy Activated Redox Processes (LEAP), previously called the Argonne Northwestern Solar Energy Research (ANSER). The mission of LEAP is to develop the fundamental scientific understanding needed to use efficient, light-driven, multi-electron redox processes to power energy-demanding chemical reactions.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the DOE’s Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs). The DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences launched 46 such centers in 2009 to bring together teams of scientists to perform basic research beyond what is possible for individuals or small groups. To celebrate the 10-year milestone, DOE selected 10 awardees to recognize their having made a major impact on scientific ideas, technologies and tools, and people. Hence, the award name is “Ten at Ten.”

The award presentation took place on July 29 in Washington, DC.