Niyazi Serdar Sarıçiftçi (born 1961 in

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

) is a Turkish-Austrian physicist. He is professor for

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

at the Johannes Kepler University (JKU) Linz. There, he leads the Institut for Physical Chemistry as well as the Institut for Organic Solar Cells (LIOS).

Life

Niyazi Serdar Sarıçiftçi graduated from the Austrian St. George's College in Istanbul. He also studied classical

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

at the Music Conservatory in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

(1970–1980). Then he began studying physics at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

(1980–1989). After obtaining the doctorate (1989), he conducted research on the 2nd Physical Institute of the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart (german: Universität Stuttgart) is a leading research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany wit ...

, Germany (1989–1992). In 1992 he received the academic teaching license (venia docendi) by the Central Interuniversitary Commission (YÖK) in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, Turkey. He then went to the Institute for Polymers & Organic Solids at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

, United States, where he worked for four years and, together with

Alan J. Heeger Alan Jay Heeger (born January 22, 1936) is an American physicist, academic and Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry. Heegar was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering in 2002 for co-founding the field of conducting polymers an ...

(

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

, 2000) discovered and investigated the

polymeric A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic an ...

organic solar cells An organic solar cell (OSC) or plastic solar cell is a type of photovoltaic that uses organic electronics, a branch of electronics that deals with conductive organic polymers or small organic molecules, for light absorption and charge transport t ...

has (1992–1996). In April 1996, he accepted the appointment as Chair of Physical Chemistry at the Johannes Kepler University Linz. Since 1996 he gives lectures as a full professor at the JKU and is the head of the Institute for Physical Chemistry. In 2000 he was appointed founding director of the Linz Institute for Organic Solar Cells (LIOS) at JKU. Between 2003 and 2009 he was elected to the City Council of the City of

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

(SPÖ Group). Furthermore, Sarıçiftçi is a founding member of the Linz Circle. He is also a member of various associations and societies: Fellow of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

(FRSC),

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

(ACS),

Materials Research Society The Materials Research Society (MRS) is a non-profit, professional organization for materials researchers, scientists and engineers. Established in 1973, MRS is a member-driven organization of approximately 14,000 materials researchers from academi ...

(MRS),

Austrian Physical Society The Austrian Physical Society (german: Österreichische Physikalische Gesellschaft) is the national physical society of Austria. History Until 1938, Austrian physicists were part of the German Physical Society. On 13 December 1950, it was decide ...

(ÖPG),

Austrian Chemical Society Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

(GÖCH) and Fellow of

SPIE SPIE (formerly the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, later the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It ...

. 2014, he was elected a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (AAS).

Work and research priorities

Sarıçiftçi specializes in the field of

organic semiconductors Organic semiconductors are solids whose building blocks are pi-bonded molecules or polymers made up by carbon and hydrogen atoms and – at times – heteroatoms such as nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. They exist in the form of molecular crystals or ...

and their applications. In particular, he has worked in the field of organic solar cells. Chemical energy storage of

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

by means of CO₂ recycling recycling is in its research increasingly important.

Awards

* TUBA Prize of the

Turkish Academy of Sciences The Turkish Academy of Sciences ( tr, Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi – TÜBA) is an autonomous scholarly association aimed at promoting scientific activities in Turkey. Although it is attached to the office of the Prime Minister and is largely fund ...

(2015) *

Wittgenstein-Preis The Wittgenstein Award (german: Wittgenstein-Preis) is an Austrian science award supporting the notion that "scientists should be guaranteed the greatest possible freedom and flexibility in the performance of their research." The prize money of up ...

(2012) * Honorary doctorate awarded by the University of Bucharest in Romania (2012) * Honorary doctorate awarded by the

Åbo Akademi Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, city and former Capital city, capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura (Archipelago Sea), Aura River, in the region of Southwest Finland, Finland Proper ...

in Finland (2011) * Kardinal-Innitzer Award (2010) * Humanity Medal of the City of Linz (2010) * Austrians of 2008, category Education (ORF and Die Presse) * Turkish National Science Prize (

TUBITAK The Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu, TÜBİTAK) is a national agency of Turkey whose stated goal is to develop "science, technology and innovation" (STI) policies ...

Bilim Ödülü) 2006 * ENERGY GLOBE Upper Austria 2003, sponsored by the OÖN * Basic Award 2001 sponsored by the "Open Upper Austria"

Publications

Sarıçiftçi has published more than 500 scientific publications in scientific journals. He is one of the most cited scientists in his field. In a global ranking of the best materials scientists Sarıçiftçi was classified as 14th.Science Watch, Top 100 Materials Scientists
last called on 28. August 2011.

References

External links

Niyazi Serdar Sarıçiftçi auf der Website der Johannes Kepler Universität Linz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sariciftci, Niyazi Serdar 1961 births 20th-century Austrian physicists Austrian people of Turkish descent Academic staff of Johannes Kepler University Linz Physical chemists Turkish physicists University of Vienna alumni Living people