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Administrative data

Michael Graetzel

michael.graetzel@epfl.ch

EPFL SB ISIC LPI
CH G0 627 (Bâtiment CH)
Station 6
1015 Lausanne

Expertise

Nanocrystalline junctions, Photovoltaic cells, Light energy conversion & storage, Lithium ion batteries, Molecular switches & displays, Photocatalysis 

Mission

Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Michael Graetzel, PhD, directs there the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic systems and their use to generate electricity and fuels from sunlight. He invented mesoscopic injection solar cells, one key embodiment of which is the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC). DSCs are meanwhile commercially produced at the multi-MW-scale and created a number of new applications in particular as lightweight power supplies for portable electronic devices and in building integrated photovoltaics. They engendered perovskite solar cells (PSCs) which turned into the most exciting break-through in the history of photovoltaics. He received a number of prestigious awards, of which the most recent ones include the RusNANO Prize, the Zewail Prize in Molecular Science, the Global Energy Prize, the Millennium Technology Grand Prize, the Marcel Benoist Prize, the King Faisal International Science Prize, the Einstein World Award of Science and the Balzan Prize. He is a Fellow of several learned societies and holds eleven honorary doctor's degrees from European and Asian Universities. His over 1500 publications have received some 220'000 citations with an h-factor of 218 (SI-Web of Science) demonstrating the strong impact of his scientific work.
 Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Michael Graetzel, PhD, directs there the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic systems and their use to generate electricity and fuels from sunlight. He invented mesoscopic injection solar cells, one key embodiment of which is the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC). DSCs are meanwhile commercially produced at the multi-MW-scale and created a number of new applications in particular as lightweight power supplies for portable electronic devices and in building integrated photovoltaics. They engendered perovskite solar cells (PSCs) which turned into the most exciting break-through in the history of photovoltaics. He received a number of prestigious awards, of which the most recent ones include the RusNANO Prize, the Zewail Prize in Molecular Science, the Global Energy Prize, the Millennium Technology Grand Prize, the Marcel Benoist Prize, the King Faisal International Science Prize, the Einstein World Award of Science and the Balzan Prize. He is a Fellow of several learned societies and holds eleven honorary doctor's degrees from European and Asian Universities. His over 1500 publications have received some 220'000 citations with an h-factor of 218 (SI-Web of Science) demonstrating the strong impact of his scientific work. 

Awards

Green Carbon Outstanding Achievement Award

Institut de Qingdao pour la bioénergie et les biotechnologies de l'Académie chinoise des sciences et la revue Green Carbon

2025

Michael Grätzel elected member of Order Pour le Mérite

German Federal Republic

2025

Medal De Scientia et Humanitate Optime Meritis

Czech Academy of Sciences

2024

Honorary doctorate from the University of Gabès (Tunisia)

University of Gabès

2023

Honorary doctorate from City University of Hong Kong

University of Hong Kong

2023

Abdullah Bin Hamad AI-Attiyah International Energy Award for Lifetime Achievement for the Advancement of Renewable Energy

The Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foudation For Energy & Sustainable Development

2023

BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences

Bilbao Spain

2021

2020 2022 Rank Prize for optoelectronics

The Rank Prize Funds

2021

Diels-Planck-Lecture-Award and Medal

University of Kiel (CAU), Germany

2020

2020 Materials Today Innovation Award

Materials Today (Elsevier)

2020

August Wilhelm von Hofmann Memorial Medal

German Chemical Society

2018

Global Energy Prize

The Global Energy Association

2017

Ahmed Zewail Prize in Molecular Sciences

SciencesElsevier in collaboration with Chemical Physics Letters

2017

RUSNANO Prize

Rusnano Group

2017

Paracelsus Award

Swiss Chemical Society

2016

Centenary award

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

2016

King Faisal International Prize in Science

ScienceKing Faisal Foundation  (Saudi Arabia)

2015

Mérite cantonal vaudois

Canton de Vaud

2015

Eric and Sheila Samson Prime Minister's Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels for Transportation

Ministry of Science, Technology and Space and Keren Hayesod-UIA

2014

Leigh Ann Conn Prize

University of Louisville - USA.

2014

Prix Marcel Benoist

Marcel Benoist Foundation (Switzerland)

2013

Leonardo da Vinci Award

European Academy of Sciences

2013

Albert Einstein World Award of Science

ScienceWorld Cultural Council

2012

Swisselectric Research Award

Swisselectric

2012

Wilhelm Exner Medal

Österreichischer Gewerbeverein

2011

Paul Karrer Medal

Universität Zürich, Department of Chemistry

2011

FEMS Innovation Award

Federation of European Materials Societies

2011

Gutenberg Award

Université Johannes Gutenberg de Mayence.

2011

Millennium Technology Prize

PrizeTechnology Academy Finland (TAF)

2010

Galileo Galilei Award

Galilieo Galilei Institute - Firenze

2011

Top Ten Chemist for the decade 1999-2009

2009

Balzan Prize for Science of New Materials

International Balzan Prize Foundation - Italy

2009

Infoscience

Teaching & PhD

PhD Students

Tiziano Agostino Caldara, Alice Piantavigna

Past EPFL PhD Students

Frank Nüesch, Ulrika Bjorksten, Oliver Kohle, Tobias Meyer, Conradin Von Planta, Alain Bill, Fabrice Campus, Martin Eschle, Stefan Ruile, Sylvie Widmer, Marcus Wolf, Jayasundera Bandara, Lynda Si-Ahmed, Raphaël Ihringer, Frank Lenzmann, Fernando Herrera Grisales, Udo Bach, Giuseppina Giordano, Roland Hengerer, Nadine Donzé, Stefan Diethelm, Joseph Sfeir, Carine Viornery, Bernhard Andreaus, Michel Carrara, Serge Pelet, Karl Richard Meier, Jessica Krüger, Hervé Nusbaumer, Robert Plass, Alexis Joseph Duret, Davide Di Censo, Nathalie Rossier-Iten, Bernard Wenger, Nam Hee Kwon, Anthony Burke, Ilkay Cesar, Zhipan Zhang, Peter Chen, Sophie Wenger, Soo-Jin Moon, Florian Le Formal, Nuttapol Pootrakulchote, Adriana Paracchino, Jérémie Minh-Châu Brillet, Maurin Cornuz, Magdalena Anna Marszalek, Aravind Kumar Chandiran, Julian Burschka, Leo-Philipp Heiniger, Amalie Dualeh, Hauke Arne Harms, Philippe Pierre Labouchère, Ludmilla Steier, Marcel Roland Schreier, Norman Pellet, Yelin Hu, Amita Ummadisingu, Konrad Domanski, Jiyoun Seo, Marko Stojanovic, Anwar Qasem M Alanazi, Thomas Paul Baumeler, Essa Awadh R Alharbi, Anand Agarwalla, Brian Irving Carlsen, Algirdas Ducinskas, Masaud Hassan S Almalki, Meng Xia, Ghewa Alsabeh

Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector

Isabelle Geissbühler Bärlocher, Joël Teuscher, Arianna Marchioro, Paul Gratia, Kasparas Rakstys, Sadig Aghazada, Kyung Taek Cho, Alessandro Senocrate