Dr. Virgil AndreiRomania
Nanyang Technological University
| 2025 to present | | Nanyang Assistant Professor, NTU Singapore |
| 2016 - 2020 | | PhD in Chemistry, University of Cambridge |
| 2014 - 2016 | | MSc in Chemistry, Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin |
| 2011 - 2014 | | BSc in Chemistry, Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin |
| 2022/01 - 2022/07 | | Winton-Kavli ENSI Exchange Fellow, University of California, Berkeley |
| 2020/10 - 2025/06 | | Title A Research Fellow, St John's College |
solar fuels, photoelectrocatalysis, artificial leaves
Virgil obtained his Bachelor and Master degrees from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where he studied thermoelectric polymer pastes and films. He then pursued a PhD at the University of Cambridge, where he developed perovskite-based artificial leaves. During his Research Fellowship at St. John’s College, he introduced unconventional concepts including floating thin-film devices for water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction, pixelated devices for long term hydrogen production, or integrated thermoelectric modules for solar waste heat harvesting. As a visiting Winton Fellow at UC Berkeley, he expanded the reaction scope of these systems further to value-added hydrocarbons and organic oxidation products.
Perovskite Photoelectrocatalysis for Solar Driven Chemical Synthesis
TBA TBA
Catalysis (Photocatalysis, Electrocatalysis, Photoelectrocatalysis, Thermocatalysis)/TBA
Photoelectrochemistry (PEC) presents a direct pathway to solar fuel synthesis by integrating light absorption and catalysis into compact electrodes. Metal halide perovskites have emerged as promising alternatives among established light absorbers, enabling unassisted PEC water splitting[1,2] and CO2 reduction to syngas.[3,4] While the bare perovskite light absorber is rapidly degraded by moisture, recent developments in the device structure have led to substantial advances in the device stability. Here, I will give an overview of the latest progress in perovskite PEC devices, introducing design principles to improve their performance and reliability. For this purpose, I will discuss the role of charge selective layers in increasing the device photocurrent and photovoltage, by fine-tuning the band alignment and enabling efficient charge separation. A further beneficial effect of hydrophobicity is revealed by comparing devices with different hole transport layers (HTLs).[1,2] On the manufacturing side, I will reveal new insights into how appropriate encapsulation techniques can extend the device lifetime to a few days under operation in aqueous media.[2,3] To this end, low melting alloys are replaced with graphite epoxy paste as a conductive, hydrophobic and low-cost encapsulant.[2,5] These design principles are successfully applied to an underexplored BiOI light absorber, increasing the photocathode stability towards hydrogen evolution from minutes to months.[6] Finally, we will explore the next steps required for scalable solar fuels production, showcasing the latest progress in terms of device manufacturing. A suitable choice of materials can decrease the device cost tenfold and expand the device functionality, resulting in flexible, floating artificial leaves.[4] Those materials are compatible with large-scale, automated fabrication processes, which present the most potential towards future real-world applications.[7,8] Similar PEC systems approaching a m2 size can take advantage of the modularity of artificial leaves,[9] whereas thermoelectric generators can further bolster water splitting by utilizing waste heat to provide an additional Seebeck voltage.[10,11] Lastly, I will introduce PEC devices as versatile platforms to produce value-added chemicals including C2 hydrocarbons (ethene, ethylene) and glycerol oxidation products, by interfacing the perovskite semiconductor with copper nanoflower catalysts and silicon nanowires (Fig. 1).[12]
References
1) V. Andrei et al. Adv. Energy Mater. 8, 1801403 (2018).
2) C. Pornrungroj, V. Andrei et al. Adv. Funct. Mater. 31, 2008182 (2021).
3) V. Andrei, B. Reuillard, E. Reisner, Nat. Mater. 19, 189–194 (2020).
4) V. Andrei, G. M. Ucoski et al. Nature 608, 518–522 (2022).
5) V. Andrei, K. Bethke, K. Rademann, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 18, 10700–10707 (2016).
6) V. Andrei, R. A. Jagt et al. Nat. Mater. 21, 864–868 (2022).
7) K. P. Sokol, V. Andrei, Nat. Rev. Mater. 7, 251–253 (2022).
8) V. Andrei, I. Roh, P. Yang, Sci. Adv. 9, eade9044 (2023).
9) V. Andrei, Y.-H. Chiang, M. Rahaman, M. Anaya et al. Energy Environ. Sci. 18, 3623–3632 (2025).
10) V. Andrei, K. Bethke, K. Rademann, Energy Environ. Sci. 9, 1528–1532 (2016).
11) C. Pornrungroj, V. Andrei, E. Reisner, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 145, 13709–13714 (2023).
12) V. Andrei, I. Roh et al. Nat. Catal. 8, 137–146 (2025).