Olga Malinkiewicz

Summary

Olga Malinkiewicz (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɔlɡa malinˈkjɛvit͡ʂ]; born 26 November 1982) is a Polish physicist, inventor of a method of producing solar cells based on perovskites using inkjet printing. She is a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer at Saule Technologies.[1]

Olga Malinkiewicz
Malinkiewicz in 2017
Born (1982-11-26) 26 November 1982 (age 41)
NationalityPolish
Alma materUniversity of Warsaw
Occupation(s)Physicist, entrepreneur
Known forco-founder of Saule Technologies

Biography edit

She started her studies at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, where she obtained a Bachelor in 2005. She graduated from the Barcelona University of Technology in Barcelona in 2010. While still a student, in 2009 she started working at the ICFO Institute. In 2017, she obtained her PhD from ICMol – Institute for Molecular Science of the University of Valencia at the group of Dr. Henk Bolink, with a thesis on low cost, efficient hybrid solar cells.[2] In 2014 she founded Saule Technologies, with private backing and turned down an offer of €1 million (US$1.3 million) for 10% of the start-up.[3] The name of the company derives from Saulė, the goddess of the Sun in Baltic mythology.

Awards edit

During her studies, Olga developed a novel perovskite solar cell architecture allowing the fabrication of such devices at low temperatures, while retaining high efficiency. She has been granted with the Photonics21 Student Innovation award in a competition organised by the European Commission in 2014 for this achievement.[4][5][6] She published an article on the subject in Nature Scientific Reports.[7] In 2015 Olga was honored with an award in the Innovators Under 35 ranking, organized by MIT Technology Review for "developing a new technology that could spark a “social revolution” in renewable energies".[8] In 2016, she was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of Poland Andrzej Duda for her "outstanding contributions to the development of Polish science".[9][10] For her future science and business activities, she was distinguished by the American Chemical Society as one of the top women entrepreneurs in new technologies.[11] In 2021, she received the Lem's Planet Award in the technology category for her invention and commercialization of the printed perovskite-based solar cells.[12]

Professional life edit

In 2015, she co-founded Saule Technologies (named after the Baltic sun goddess), along with two Polish businessmen.[13] A partnership was signed in January 2018 with the Swedish construction company Skanska. The company is also looking for partnership with other companies operating in the Middle East.[14] It is also working with Egis Group, a rigid plastics film producer, on the encapsulation of the cells.[15]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Meet Olga Malinkiewicz who's printing wafer-thin solar cells made with perovskite". @scctw. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  2. ^ "OLGA MALINKIEWICZ | University of Valencia, Valencia | UV | Instituto de Ciencia Molecular (ICMol)". Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  3. ^ Van Noorden, Richard (24 September 2014). "Cheap solar cells tempt businesses". Nature. 513 (7519): 470. Bibcode:2014Natur.513..470V. doi:10.1038/513470a. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 25254454.
  4. ^ "Photonics21 Innovation Award - News - ICFO". Icfo.eu. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Partnerships key to photonics innovation, EC VP tells Photonics21". Spie.org. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  6. ^ "A low-cost thin-film photovoltaic device with high energy efficiency". Spie.org. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  7. ^ Tvingstedt, Kristofer; Malinkiewicz, Olga; Baumann, Andreas; Deibel, Carsten; Snaith, Henry J.; Dyakonov, Vladimir; Bolink, Henk J. (14 August 2014). "Radiative efficiency of lead iodide based perovskite solar cells - Scientific Reports". Scientific Reports. 4 (1): 6071. doi:10.1038/srep06071. PMC 5377528. PMID 25317958.
  8. ^ "Olga Malinkiewicz | Innovators Under 35". www.innovatorsunder35.com. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  9. ^ "M.P. 2016 poz. 1225" (in Polish). Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Prezydent odznaczył zasłużonych w służbie państwu i społeczeństwu" (in Polish). 11 November 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  11. ^ "C&EN's 2020 Trailblazers: Celebrating badass women entrepreneurs in chemistry". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  12. ^ Katarzyna Puchała (30 November 2021). "Zmierzch krzemu – w cieniu perowskitowej rewolucji". globenergia.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  13. ^ ""Inkjet"solar panels set to reshape green energy". The Hindu Newspaper.
  14. ^ "Saule opens up licence for perovskite solar windows". Compound Semiconductor. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  15. ^ "Making it real: Commercial field test of breakthrough Perovskite solar panel begins". Red, Green, and Blue. 9 January 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2020.