Mercouri Kanatzidis is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor in the department of chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University.

He has a joint appointment at Argonne National Laboratory. He has been at Northwestern and Argonne since 2006 and was previously at Michigan State University.

 

His work is guided by a dedication to advancing alternative energy technologies and improving our understanding of materials science. His research interests focus on the design, discovery and synthetic science of new materials, coupled with in-depth characterization, manipulation of new substances with novel and exotic chemical, physical, or electrical properties.

 

Kanatzidis has made discoveries and developed materials that have advanced alternative energy technologies. His work has focused on improving thermoelectric materials for waste heat recovery, which can help to reduce energy waste and lower carbon emissions. With his team, he has developed the first solid-state solar cell device, which has paved the way for the development of more efficient and stable solar cells.

 

He was awarded the Centenary Prize from the Royal Chemistry Society in 2023 for “pioneering contributions to the synthesis and development of novel semiconducting halide perovskites for application in solar energy conversion, and for excellence in communication.

 

Kanatzidis, the editor in chief of the Journal of Solid State Chemistry, is a highly cited researcher with over 1,450 published manuscripts. He holds more than 45 patents.

 

He obtained a B.Sc from Aristotle University in Greece and received his Ph D. in chemistry from the University of Iowa.