My doctoral journey at EDEY was truly transformational, shaping my career and ultimately leading to the co-founding of DeltaSpark. Alongside wonderful colleagues and friends at the Group of Energy Materials, I built lasting professional relationships and many cherished memories in the quiet town of Sion. From ski trips and hikes to bowling evenings, these shared experiences made the journey especially meaningful. EDEY is undoubtedly one of the best doctoral schools for developing both professionally and personally.
Our graduate students investigate novel energy-conversion mechanisms arising from the interaction of light with engineered nanomaterials. Their interdisciplinary research combines photonics, materials science, and chemistry to translate fundamental discoveries into sustainable technologies for producing fuels and chemical feedstocks.
The research addressed the solar-driven and selective conversion of CO2 to carbon monoxide and ethylene, two feedstocks relevant for sustainable liquid fuel processing. My thesis involved multi-disciplinary activities in electrochemistry, materials science, photovoltaics, and energy systems engineering.
The transition toward sustainable fuels and chemicals requires disruptive technologies that directly convert solar energy into fuels and chemical products. In my thesis, I focused on the design, characterization, and operation of photo-electrochemical devices utilizing concentrated light for CO2 conversion and water splitting. The research addressed the solar-driven and selective conversion of CO2 to carbon monoxide and ethylene, two feedstocks relevant for sustainable liquid fuel processing. Additionally, I demonstrated the reversible operation of such devices (for both fuel production and power generation) with the example of solar-driven water-splitting to hydrogen and its operation as a hydrogen fuel cell for power production.
I conducted my thesis at the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering (LRESE) and as part of the EDEY doctoral program at EPFL. My thesis involved multi-disciplinary activities in electrochemistry, materials science, photovoltaics, and energy systems engineering, aligning with the broad scope of the EDEY doctoral program. It contributed to a system-level understanding of solar-driven electrochemical technologies and advanced the practical implementation and commercial viability of solar-driven integrated photo-electrochemical energy conversion technologies.