Universiti Tenaga Nasional

Undoubtedly, the world is facing unprecedented natural disasters as the consequences of eminent global warming due to excessive usage of fossil fuels. Many developed nations are aligning themselves to alternatives to fossil fuels in their energy roadmap, attributing to the tremendous development of renewable energy resources in recent times. Over the past few decades, solar energy in the form of solar photovoltaics has proven to be the most potential renewable energy resource to date. We have come across solar cells of few generations after being demonstrated first at Bell Labs (with 6% conversion efficiency in 1954) to Giga watt-peak capacity solar farms for electrical power generation. So far, researchers around the world try to find energy harvesting in the form of electricity with many kinds of solar cells starting from inorganic silicon based to organic based ones. This seminar talk will the chronological history of solar cell technologies from inception to successful commercialization to date. This will definitely boost the hope for alternatives amid the imminent energy crisis era besides promoting enthusiasm among new generation as SDG7 of UN.

Biography:

Professor Dr. Nowshad Amin is a Strategic Hire Professor at the Institute of Sustainable Energy of Universiti Tenaga Nasional (@ UNITEN, The National Energy University) as well as an Adjunct Professor to the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (@UKM, The National University of Malaysia). Prior to this, he served 11 years in the Dept. of Electrical, Electronic & Systems Engineering of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (@UKM, The National University of Malaysia), where he also led the Solar Photovoltaic Research Group under the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI). After the higher secondary education (HSC 1989) with distinctions from his native country, Bangladesh, he received the Japanese Ministry of Education (MONBUSHO) scholarship in 1990. Accomplishing Japanese Language diploma in 1991, he achieved a diploma in Electrical Engineering (1994) from Gunma National College of Technology, Bachelor (1996) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Toyohashi University of Technology, Masters (1998) and PhD (2001) on solar photovoltaic technology (Thin Film Solar Cell) from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo, Japan). Later, he pursued Postdoctoral fellowship in the University of South Florida, USA and briefly worked at Motorola Japan Ltd (Later became Freescale Semiconductors Ltd.). His areas of expertise include Microelectronics, Renewable Energy, Solar Photovoltaic Applications and Thin Film Solar PV Development. Additionally, his research focuses on the commercialization of Solar Photovoltaic Products from his patented entities; as such he served as the CTO cum director of a University Spin-off company financed by the Malaysian Technology Development Center (MTDC). He has been serving as the project-leader as well as co-researcher of many government (Malaysia) and international (Saudi National Grant, Qatar Foundation etc.) funded projects. He has authored more than 275 peer-reviewed publications, a few books and book chapters. He also served as a visiting professor at the King Saud University of Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2015. He is actively involved in promoting Renewable Energy to the developing countries in South and South East Asia, working as an enthusiastic promoter for the affordable solar photovoltaic technologies.

Email:

Address:Selangor, Malaysia