Gunnar Westin

Gunnar Westin is a Professor of Chemical nanotechnology at the Department of Chemistry-Ångström, Uppsala University. Westin received a Ph.D in Inorganic Chemistry 1995 and became Docent (Assoc. Prof.) 1998, at Stockholm University. He moved his research group to Uppsala University the year 2000, taking a senior lecturer position and became a full Professor of Chemical nanotechnology 2006.

He is a co-founder, scientific co-director and Adjunct Professor at the International Research Center for Renewable Energy (IRCRE), Xian Jiaotong University, China established in 2010.

Westin started the first Swedish sol-gel research group at Stockholm University from an empty laboratory as a Ph.D. student. During this time, the group grew to 4-5 people.

The research stretch from fundamental to applied, with over 20 industry collaborations, some resulting in up-scaling and large-scale production. Furthermore, Westin held a part time position at ABB corporate research, Västerås, Sweden implementing sol-gel processing and took part in establishing the Institute for New Energy (INE) in Shenzhen, China; a non-profit organisation dedicated to creating new companies. He is a project leader developing high-speed roll-to-roll coating of corrosion resistant, photocatalytic, and spectrally selective coatings with S-Solar and international collaborators.

His research is focused on materials synthesis, using solution based processing, where all aspects of the processes are studied; from synthesis and studies of novel heterometallic alkoxide precursors, via the reactions taking place in solution and during heat-treatment to yield the target materials. He has published ca. 100 papers and 7 patent families, and given 200+ talks, of which 120+ were invited, keynote or plenary at leading international conferences, e.g. MRS, ACerS, ACS, ECerS, as well as 50+ invited lectures at leading international universities.

Westin has received a Distinguished Award for Novel Materials and their Synthesis by IUPAC-NMS, served as an elected board member of the International Sol-gel Society, Chairman of the selection committee for the biennial ISGS conferences, Editorial board member of Int. J. Nanotechnology, Composites B: Engineering, J. Materiomics, and Int. J. Nanoscience. Furthermore, he has co-organised 40+ conference symposia and been a frequent reviewer for journals, academic positions and grants, as well as reviewer or opponent for many M.Sc. and Ph.D. defenses.