Prof. N Alonso-Vante
University of Poitiers
Nicolas Alonso-Vante, is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Poitiers. N. Alonso-Vante obtained his degrees of Docteur Troisième Cycle (1981) and Doctorat d’Etat (1984) from the University of Strasbourg, respectively. Under the auspices of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation he was awarded a two years Post-Doc fellowship (1985-1986) at the Hahn-Meitner-Institut-Berlin (now Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin), where he further worked as a senior scientist in the department of solar energy until August 1997.
For over more than two decades he has developed materials in the nanodivided scale based on transition metal and chalcogenides in metallic and semiconducting form in Germany and France. Using facile chemical routes, he has pioneered the use of non-platinum and non-precious metal catalysts center chalcogenides in order to understand the complex process of the oxygen reduction reaction process, an important technological reaction in low temperature fuel cells. Other interest of such materials in combination with light harvesting are devoted to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and photocatalysis. Prof. Alonso-Vante’s other main research interests are (Photo)electrochemistry and (Photo)electrocatalysis of novel materials using various ex situ and in-situ techniques, fuel generation, interfacial characterization and surface analytical techniques. He is the author of over 240 publications, book chapters, editor of a two-volume e-book on electrochemistry in Spanish and holds 2 US, 2 German, and 2 French patents; his work has been widely cited (h-index = 41, 5728 citations). He has received the awards of the National Polytechnic Institute-Mexico as a R&D distinguished graduate, the Mexican Council of Technology SNI-III recognition as a Mexican researcher working outside Mexico, and the 2017 Medal “To the Memory of Academician N.M. Emanuel”, Russian Academy of Science. He is also a member of the International Society of Electrochemistry, the Electrochemical Society, the Bunsengesellschaft für Physikalische Chemie, and of the International Academy of Electrochemical Energy Science (IAOEES). Member of the Editorial board of Fuel Cells Journal, and the International Journal of Photoenergy.