Dr Marina Freitag MRSC

Winner: 2022 Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize

Newcastle University

For outstanding work to develop, elaborate, and understand novel energy materials.

Celebrate Dr Marina Freitag

#RSCPrizes

Only a few decades ago, the number of technologies for converting light to energy was quite limited. At the cutting edge of research, we now have a dozen effective alternatives to choose from.

Printable photovoltaics built from low-cost, environmentally friendly materials have the potential to transform the energy sector for the benefit of humanity worldwide. The majority of progress has been made toward this aim via the development of more powerful light-absorbing materials. However, reliability and storage coupling continue to be hurdles to the widespread use of solar systems. Dr Freitag addresses these issues by focusing on the materials responsible for charge transport in photovoltaic cells, which is critical for both stability and power output. Their structure is made up of easily manipulatable building blocks made of abundant and non-toxic metals, like copper, iron and nickel, that are joined together by a non-metal backbone that governs their energy, form and stability.

Recently, Dr Freitag pioneered a new direction in indoor device design, using these new energy materials to construct ‘smart zombies’. These are wireless devices that capture indoor light with exceptional efficiency. They are smart enough to adapt to the amount of light available while performing the main functions of an Internet of Things device (a hardware device that is connected to the internet and other devices). She created a photovoltaic system that adaptively uses available energy, delivering an efficient source of sustainable energy to devices using a revolutionary mix of artificial intelligence and automated learning.

Read winner biography

Dr Marina Freitag is currently a Royal Society University Research Fellow at Newcastle University and has recently been promoted to Reader in Energy Materials. Her interest in hybrid molecular devices emerged during her doctorate studies (2007– 2011, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA), for which she received an Electrochemical Society Travel Award and a Dean Dissertation Fellowship in 2011.

Dr Freitag relocated to Uppsala University for a postdoctoral research position (2013– 2015), where she concentrated on the development of alternative redox mediators, which led to a discovery known today as ‘zombie solar cells’. Dr Freitag was invited to continue this research with Professor Hagfeldt at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) (July 2015– August 2016). She was appointed Assistant Professor at Uppsala University in Sweden (2016–2020), where she received the Göran Gustaffsson Young Researcher Award 2019.

Her innovations have already pushed the field's attention to new applications, driven by her energy material evolution. Marina's ambitious goal is to bridge the scientific disciplines of chemistry, engineering, and artificial intelligence in order to revolutionise the design of sustainable future wireless communication devices, including the Internet of Things.

Q+A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

From the time I was very little, I wanted to be a chemist because I wanted to combine my love of numbers with creativity of art. For me, being an academic was the best way to follow my own research ideas and to form a team with a common goal of making the future more sustainable with the power of chemistry.

Who or what has inspired you?

Inspiration is easy to come by, but recognising its potential is hard. Inspiration and ideas may strike at any moment, whether I'm studying the most recent publications in science literature or conversing with colleagues. I like to test something first and then ask questions about it. If I observe anything intriguing in a different discipline, I'll first create the molecules or systems in question and then ask, "Why does/doesn't it work?". As a result, my career has been sprinkled with pleasant surprises that grew into important discoveries. In my work, I aim to use this technique of discovery as often as possible.

What motivates you?

Anyone who does research will fail 99% of the time, but that just makes the 1% more significant and motivating.

Solving a puzzle is a lot like working with photovoltaic cells. When it comes to this kind of system, you have a wide range of options to choose from since there are so many components to deal with. You'll never lose interest since you're not limited to studying one particular branch of chemistry. Due to the wide range of specialties represented on my team, it takes a great deal of effort on my part to bridge the communication gap between engineers, chemists, and computer scientists, which is challenging but also very exciting.

What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?

Chemistry is one of the three ‘core’ sciences, and it will continue to transform our world for the better. In order to build modern society, we have leaned on the expertise of chemists in fields like medical, food technology, and energy technology. Studying chemistry puts you at the cutting edge of scientific breakthroughs and can lead you to have a significant impact on the lives of everyone you know.

Can you tell us about a scientific development on the horizon that you are excited about?

Only a few decades ago, the number of technologies for converting light to energy was quite limited. At the cutting edge of research, we now have a dozen effective alternatives to choose from. The technologies include new solution-processable solar cells like the biomimetic dye-sensitised solar cells and perovskite-based solar cells, a very efficient thin film technology. With these technologies, we can tackle climate change by integrating them into every aspect of our daily lives.