Dr. Arno H.M. Smets is Professor in Solar Energy in the Photovoltaics Material and Devices group at the faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Delft University of Technology. From 2005-2010 he worked at the Research Center for Photovoltaics at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Tsukuba Japan. His research work is focused on processing of thin silicon films, innovative materials and new concepts for photovoltaic applications.

He is lecturer for BSc and MSc courses on Photovoltaics and Sustainable Energy at TU Delft. His online edX course on Solar Energy attracted over 150.000 students worldwide. He is co-author of the book "Solar Energy. The physics and engineering of photovoltaic conversion technologies and systems."

Arno Smets is the winner of the inaugural edX Prize for his exceptional contributions in online teaching and learning.

research interest

Arno Smets has worked on a wide variety of topics related to the plasma processing of thin silicon films for photovoltaic applications, mainly focused on second generation technology. Included among his many research topics and achievements are: plasma technology development, development of high deposition rates of hydrogenated amorphous and microcrystalline silicon, large area deposition, development of novel in-situ diagnostics to monitor plasma processes, plasma-surface interaction and thin film growth, study of dust generation in plasma environments, study of the mechanisms involved in thin silicon growth with respect to deposition rate, temperature and ion induced film-modifications, fundamental understanding of microstructures and related properties of thin silicon films, study of instable thin silicon properties related to the Staebler-Wronski effect or oxidation of thin silicon films, processing of thin film silicon based photovoltaic devices and development of novel concepts to further enhance the efficiencies of thin film silicon photovoltaic devices.