New FRS: Henry Snaith and Ben Davis
Congratulations to two of our outstanding energy researchers: Henry Snaith and Ben Davis were elected to the Fellowship and Foreign Membership of the Royal Society.
Professor Henry Snaith has pioneered the development of hybrid materials for energy and photovoltaics through an interdisciplinary combination of materials synthesis, device development, advanced optoelectronic characterisations and theoretical studies. He has created new materials with advanced functionality and enhanced understanding of fundamental mechanisms. His recent discovery of extremely efficient thin-film solar cells manufactured from organic-inorganic metal halide perovskites has reset aspirations within the photovoltaics community. His work has started a new filed of research, attracting both academic and industrial following, propelled by the prospect of delivering a higher efficiency photovoltaic technology at a much lower cost than existing silicon PV.
Professor Ben Davis is noted for his chemical interrogation and manipulation of biological systems, particularly those that hinge on carbohydrates and proteins. He has developed selective and benign bond forming strategies that have been applied to biology, allowing the construction of synthetic biomolecules and bioconjugates; the creation of synthetic cells and viruses; and in vivo chemistry. These have enabled associated mechanistic details of protein and sugar biology to be elucidated and exploited for biotechnological applications.