Faculty Focus: Prof. Karl Leo<br>Dr. Karl Leo Appointed Director of KAUST Solar Center
King Abudullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) recently appointed Prof. Karl Leo as Director of its Solar and Photovoltaics Engineering Research Center (SPERC). Prof. Leo brings a wealth of combined research and industry experience to the Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE). A widely published scientist in over 440 refereed publications, his name is also associated with approximately fifty patents.
Prof. Leo joins KAUST from Technische Universität in Dresden, Germany where he is full professor of optoelectronics. His research interests focus on organic semiconductors and emerging photovoltaics technologies. As Prof. Leo explains, "organic semiconductors represent the new form of semiconductors, which are carbon-based." As opposed to the classical silicon-based electronics, his work on carbon-based solutions have led him to applications such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic solar cells.
The Future of PV Technology
The long-term perspectives for organic solar cells, or PV technology, are appealing as they can be flexible on plastic substrates and can also be transparent. Moreover, carbon is inexpensive and widely available. The challenge however is that this technology still has fairly low efficiency and lifetime.
Increasing the efficiency level of organic solar cells has been a major driving force of Prof. Leo's research and entrepreneurial endeavors. One of the eight spin-off companies he has launched, located in Dresden, is the current world-leader with an organic PV efficiency rate of 12%. This is quite an improvement from the early efficiency rate of 1% when organic PVs were first introduced in the 1980s'. His goal is to attain around 20%.
"This field has taken enormous development," said Prof. Leo. "Even a couple of years ago when you talked to people from silicon photovoltaics, they smiled and they thought of organic photovoltaics as childish, little baby technology. Buy now they are taking us seriously," he remarks.
Taking Innovation to the Marketplace
Prof. Karl Leo's spin-off companies have gained a good level of success, as they've employed over 250 people and generated sizeable revenue levels. One of these companies, Novaled AG, which supplies materials for organic LEDs, was purchased by Samsung. Another company, Heliatek GmbH, which holds the OPV cell efficiency world record, plays a leading role in the application of organic solar cells.
He believes that KAUST is a great place to pursue solar research. In addition to the fact that "Saudi Arabia is an interesting country to pursue work in solar energy," Prof. Leo also credits the University's commitment to technology transfer and collaborating with industry. Describing the KAUST Solar Center as a very "challenging, interesting and really exciting task," he looks forward to help establishing it as a strong and internationally respected basic research program.
"There are already very strong people here in the faculty of the Solar Center. The next step is to bring that innovation into products. In my experience, there are several approaches. One is clearly to maintain research contracts with industry, which is already ongoing here and we are working on having more. The second is to sustain a culture of technology transfer to applications. This must be our long-term goal. Not only to do research and publish papers but also to create an impact," as he concludes.