Husam Alshareef, professor of material science & engineering in the Physical Science and Engineering Division at KAUST, has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in recognition of his work on nanostructured semiconductor materials for energy storage and electronics applications.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, founded in 1841, is the United Kingdom's professional body for chemical scientists and the largest organization in Europe for advancing the chemical sciences. The Royal Society of Chemistry partners with industry and academia, promotes collaboration and innovation, advises governments on policy and promotes the talent, information and ideas that lead to great advances in science. The FRSC designation is given to a group of elected Fellows who have made outstanding contributions to chemical science. The names of newly elected Fellows are published each year in The Times (London).

Achieving Fellow status in the chemical profession denotes to the wider community a high level of accomplishment as a professional chemist. Eligibility for Fellow status applies to applicants who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the chemical sciences, or to the advancement of the chemical sciences as a profession, or have been distinguished in the management of a chemical services organization. The Royal Society of Chemistry awards only a handful of distinguished professionals every year with this title.

Alshareef is well-known for his contributions in using semiconductor nanomaterials for electronics and energy applications.  He has been developing chemical and vapor phase processes for the rational design of inorganic semiconductors and demonstrating their enhanced performance in actual devices.  Alshareef and his team have been investigating synthesis-structure-property relationships of semiconductor materials to develop fundamental understanding of their physical properties and their behavior under different stimuli.  They leverage this basic understanding to improve the performance of actual devices such supercapacitors, batteries, nanoelectronics, and more recently sensors.

"I am happy to receive this honor and feel especially proud that the citation specifically recognizes the work we have been doing here at KAUST", said Alshareef.