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Assist. Prof. Dr. Saim Emin
​University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia
​​HETMAT (Heterostructure Nanomaterials for Water Splitting) is an interdisciplinary project in the field of chemistry, materials science, and nanoscience. It combines state-of-the-art experimental techniques in electrochemistry, physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry and material science, in a cross-disciplinary effort applied in photocatalysis of water splitting. The project is supported by the European Comission under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (Career Integration Grant) and is carried out at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia. 
​Water splitting is the general term for a chemical reaction in which water is separated into oxygen and hydrogen. Efficient and economical water splitting would be a key technological component of a hydrogen economy. Photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splittings are two methods which gain atention as a clean way to produce hydrogen. The conversion of solar energy to hydrogen by means of water splitting process is one of the most interesting ways to achieve clean and renewable energy. In the case of photocatalytic water splitting the photocatalyst  is suspended in water while in the case of PEC the photocatalyst is prepared as an electrode. In a typical PEC system water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen by means of photo/electrolysis. There are bottlenecks of water splitting among which are the stability of  materials, fast recombinations of charges (e.g. reduce efficiency) that took place in semiconductor materials,  band gap limitations  of different semiconductors with respect to water redox potentials, etc. The HETMAT project offer solutions to resolve these bottlenecks by developing new routes for synthesis, advanced concepts for nanostructuring of semiconductors, and discovery of novel semiconductors including nanocomposites.
Assist. Prof. Saim Emin
University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia
​Vipavska cesta 11c, Ajdovscina 5270, Slovenia
​E-mail: saim.emin@ung.si / saim.emin@europenanoscience.org

A Little About
​Myself.

My name is Saim Emin from the University of Nova Gorica (UNG), Slovenia. I am the researcher who is involved in the HETMAT project. Currently, I am employed as assistant professor at the Materials Research Laboratory at UNG. I have great passion for science and particularly the nanoscience area related to renewables energy sources.

I obtained both my MSc and PhD diplomas from Saitama University, Japan. I was granted scholarships both for Master and PhD studies by the Japanese goverment under the so called Monbusho program. In the past I also worked at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan. Since 2012, I am a Marie Curie fellow at the  UNG.