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Prestigious physics award for Feng Gao

12 March 2025

Anders Törneholm

This year's Göran Gustafsson Prize in Physics goes to LiU professor Feng Gao. His research focuses on how new materials can be used for the next generation of solar cells and LEDs, among other things. The total prize money is SEK 7.5 million.

Portrait (Feng Gao). Photographer: Thor Balkhed
Feng Gao, professor of optoelectronics at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at 一本道 University.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a great honour to receive this award. And I feel very grateful to work with such talented people in my group and excellent collaborators at different places that make the research possible. A true privilege,鈥� says Feng Gao, professor of optoelectronics at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at Link枚ping University.

He is awarded the G枚ran Gustafson Prize in Physics 鈥�for contributions to the basic understanding and development of new optoelectronic devices based on organic semiconductors and metal halide perovskites鈥�.

Shaped the research field

Feng Gao鈥檚 research group has been involved in shaping the research field for perovskites as well as organic semiconductors for the past ten years. The advantage of the materials is that they are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, transparent and flexible. This makes it possible to place, for example, solar cells on many more surfaces such as windows.

鈥淲ith a deeper understanding of how these new materials work, we can also improve the performance of LEDs and solar cells based on organic semiconductors and perovskites. Our hope is that they will become part of everyday life and contribute to the energy transition.鈥�

Sustainability focus

In addition to increasing performance, Feng Gao鈥檚 research group has increasingly focused on sustainability. Issues such as what to do with end-of-life solar cells and diodes are increasingly shaping the direction of their research.

鈥淓ven at the development stage of new technologies, we need to keep recycling in mind. If we don鈥檛 know how to recycle the technology before we put it on the market, we shouldn鈥檛 put it on the market at all.鈥�

As electricity use is predicted to increase drastically in the coming years with the development of AI and the transition to electrified transport, many different sustainable energy sources need to work together. This is something Feng Gao wants to contribute to.

鈥淪ociety is facing many challenges. We can't do everything. As a researcher, it鈥檚 really important to think about where our own expertise can help in the best way.鈥�

KVA makes the assessment

The G枚ran Gustafsson Prize is awarded each year to researchers under the age of 45 in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, molecular biology and medicine. Each award winner receives SEK 7.2 million in research grants over three years, and a personal award of SEK 300,000.

The universities nominate researchers for the prize and the contributions are assessed by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA). In order to receive the prize, a researcher must be at the absolute forefront of their field.

As well as from LiU, this year鈥檚 award winners come from Uppsala University, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm University and Chalmers University of Technology.

Previous G枚ran Gustafsson Prize winners from LiU

鈥� Physics: Olle Ingan盲s, Igor Abrikosov, Mats Fahlman, Johanna Ros茅n
鈥� Chemistry: Magnus Berggren, Per Hammarstr枚m, Reverant Crispin
鈥� Molecular biology: Stefan Thor

Contact

Photo of Feng Gao

Feng Gao

Professor, Head of Unit

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