Jordi Martorell

Jordi Martorell received a PhD degree in Physics from Brown University (USA) in 1990. After that he was a post-doctoral researcher at New York University and later a research associate at the UAB. In 1996 he joined the UPC where he became a professor in 1999. Since 2005 he is also head of the organic nano-structured photovoltaics group at ICFO. Jordi Martorell has mainly focused his research into the experimental study of the optical control to shape the properties of photonic materials, a field where he has made several breakthrough contributions as, for instance: To control spontaneous emission in photonic crystals and to obtain non-linear light generation in photonic crystals. About five years ago Jordi Martorell took a major turn in his research activities and began to focus the core of his research in fundamental aspects of photonics applied to photovoltaics. Among contributions made in this field stands out the recently proven world record efficiencies for semi-transparent single junction solar cells by applying a novel type of photonic control on such kind of photovoltaic devices. Currently, he is aiming at opening new research lines within the field, such as the development of fiber array solar cells that may prove as effective sun-tracking systems or the fabrication of tandem or triple junction solar cells to be used for hydrogen generation, among others. Jordi Martorell is currently coordinating an FP7 European project and is partner in a Horizon2020 project. He has been (and is) leading the research in several industrial projects in collaboration with several companies (COMSA EMTE SL, TFM SA, Nanograde Ltd., and EcoPolTech SL, among others) to facilitate the transfer of the photovoltaic technology to society.