Prof. Harald Ade is a leading scientist in the relatively new field of Organic photovoltaic (OPV). During his recent visit to KAUST to attend the "KAUST Research Conference on "Synergistic Approaches in Solar Energy Conversion," organized by KAUST Solar Center, he talked to our Ph.D. student Rahim Munir on the position of OPV in the market dominated by silicon solar cells.

In the short but focused interview, Prof. Ade talked about the future of OPV and also the advantages gained from Organic solar cells such as their transparency and flexibility. He explained in great detail the drawbacks of mainstream silicon solar cells in certain application areas such as greenhouse application and thus the need to develop OPV to target these application areas. Also, his words about the research opportunities in academia to explore uncharted territories are genuinely inspiring for budding scientists.

Prof. Ade is currently Goodnight Innovation Distinguished Professor and leader of the Carbon Electronics cluster within the NCSU Chancellor Excellence Faculty Program. He is developing and using novel soft X-ray characterization tools, with a focus on the characterization of organic devices. His current interests focus on using thermodynamic concepts for quantitative-structure function relations and green solvent processing.