Arthur J. Nozik

PROFESSIONAL: Arthur J. Nozik is a Research Professor, Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and a Fellow Emeritus at the CU-NREL Joint Institute for Renewable and Sustainable Energy (RASEI), both at the University of Colorado, Boulder; he is also a Senior Research Fellow, Emeritus at the U.S DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden CO. Nozik has been Director of the Colorado Collaboratory for Renewable Energy-- Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics (2007-2012), and from 2007-2012 Associate Director of a Joint Los Alamos National Lab/NREL Energy Frontier Research Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion. Nozik received his BChE in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University in 1959 and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Yale University in 1967. Nozik's research interests include size quantization and hot carrier effects in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and nanostructures, including multiple exciton generation (MEG) from a single photon; the applications of unique quantum effects in nanostructures to advanced approaches for greatly enhanced solar photon conversion efficiencies to electricity and solar fuels; photogenerated carrier relaxation dynamics in various semiconductor structures; photoelectrochemistry of semiconductor-molecule interfaces; photoelectrochemical energy conversion, photocatalysis; optical, magnetic and electrical properties of solids; and Mössbauer spectroscopy. He has published over 241 papers (h-factor = 101 with 52,000 citations) and book chapters in these fields, written or edited 6 books, holds 11 U.S. patents, and has delivered over 387 invited talks at universities, conferences, and symposia. He has received many awards and honors in chemical physics/solar energy research including election in 2024 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the 2016 Wilbur Cross Medal of the Yale Graduate School; the 2008 Eni Award (from the President of Italy); the 2013 Heinz Gerischer Award of the Electrochemical Society; the 2011 Esselen Award (at Harvard University) for Chemistry in the Public Interest from the American Chemical Society, the Research Award of the U.N. Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization, and the Thomson Reuters (Clariyate Analytica) Highly Cited Researcher Designation in 2014 in Chemistry and in 2018 in Physics. Nozik was a Senior Editor of The Journal of Physical Chemistry for 12 years and has served on the editorial boards of many journals. A Special Festschrift Issue of The Journal of Physical Chemistry honoring Nozik’s scientific career appeared in a December 2006 issue and a special Research Symposium was held in his honor at the University of Colorado in 2016. Nozik is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society of Chemistry; he is also a member of the American Chemical Society., the Electrochemical Society, the Material Research Society, and Sigma XI. . As a young boy I developed an intense interest in science and in questions about the nature of the universe. I remember being awed and fascinated by the dramatic news accounts in 1945 of the splitting of the atom and its application to the development of atomic energy, but also disturbed by its initial use to destroy in singular events the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even though this brought a rapid end to World War II. I graduated from Classical High School in Springfield in 1953, and entered Cornell University in the chemical engineering department. A great event while at Cornell was my marriage as an undergraduate in 1958 to my lovely wife Rhoda, a devoted companion and dedicated supporter for the past 62 years I graduated from Cornell in 1959 and accepted a position in the aerospace industry (Douglas Aircraft Company) in Southern California. However, I soon realized that I much preferred basic science to engineering, and in 1960 I enrolled in the PhD program at Yale in physical chemistry. During my first year at Yale, Rhoda and I were happy to produce a baby girl named Eva. I then left Yale in 1961 with an M.S. and took a position at the Central Research Labs of the American Cyanamid (one of the largest chemical companies of the day) in Stamford, CT. After 3 years I received a company scholarship that allowed me to return to Yale in 1964, to resume my PhD studies on Mossbauer spectroscopy (recoilless nuclear resonance fluorescence). My lab was next to that of Nobel Laurate Lars Onsager, who later served on my thesis defense committee. During my second period at Yale, Rhoda and I were again happy to welcome into the world my second daughter, Jane, born in 1966. I returned to work for Cyanamid after graduation in 1967 and conducted research on the optical properties of semiconductors, and on novel approaches to solar energy conversion This was very timely because the energy crisis of 1973-1974 was about to paralyze the U.S. and new approaches to efficient solar energy conversion and solar hydrogen production offered a potential solution to the energy crisis as well as the great current issue of climate change due to fossil fuel use. In 1974 I moved to the Allied Chemical Corporation (now part of Honeywell) in Morristown, NJ to continue my research on the conversion of solar light to electricity (photovoltaics) and solar fuels (artificial photosynthesis). In 1978 I moved to a new National Laboratory formed by President Carter in Golden, CO (Solar Energy Research Institute—renamed NREL in 1990 by President Bush) ) and was active there in solar conversion research as a Sr. Research fellow until I became Emeritus in 2016. Since 1999 I was also associated with the University of Colorado in Boulder as an Adjoint Professor and supervised many graduate students who did their thesis research at NREL. In 2016 I transitioned to Research Professor at CU. My research activity during this more recent period is summarized above in my Professional Bio. Arthur J. Nozik is a Research Professor, Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and a Fellow, Emeritus at the CU-NREL Joint Institute for Renewable and Sustainable Energy (RASEI), both at the University of Colorado (CU), Boulder; he is also a Senior Research Fellow, Emeritus at the U.S DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden CO. From 2007-2012, Nozik was Director of the Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics under the Colorado Collaboratory for Renewable Energy, and from 2007-2012 Associate Director of a Joint Los Alamos National Lab/NREL Energy Frontier Research Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion. Nozik's research interests include size quantization and hot carrier effects in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and nanostructures, including multiple exciton generation (MEG) from a single photon; the applications of unique quantum effects in nanostructures to advanced approaches for greatly enhanced solar photon conversion efficiencies to electricity and solar fuels; photogenerated carrier relaxation dynamics in various semiconductor structures; photoelectrochemistry of semiconductor-molecule interfaces; photoelectrochemical energy conversion, photocatalysis; optical, magnetic and electrical properties of solids; and Mössbauer spectroscopy. He has published over 241 papers (h-factor = 101 with 52,000 citations) and book chapters in these fields, written or edited 6 books, holds 11 U.S. patents, and has delivered over 387 invited talks at universities, conferences, and symposia. Nozik has managed a large group of scientists engaged in basic and applied research on the direct photoconversion of light into solar fuels, chemicals, and electricity, and on the optical and electronic properties and applications of nanostructures. He has been awarded 11 U.S. patents and has received many national and international honors and awards. He received his BChE from Cornell University in 1959 and his PhD in Physical Chemistry from Yale University in 1967.