Virgil Andrei studied chemistry at Humboldt University in Berlin. Later, the native Romanian moved to the United Kingdom, where he earned a doctorate in artificial leaves at Cambridge University. He is currently a research fellow at the university’s St. John’s College. Recently Andrei spent six months in the USA researching the production of multicarbon products made from CO₂ and water. The researcher, who has always been interested in renewable energy, sees his experience abroad as an asset: “It inspired me and shapes and my idea of sustainable research,” he says.

Together with an interdisciplinary team, Virgil Andrei has created a leaf-like device that generates sustainable fuels from water and sunlight. It’s made of perovskite and metal oxide light absorbers, which are placed on flexible plastic and metal films. “Our devices are so light that they float like lotus leaves,” says Andrei. He and his team now aim to produce their leaves on a square-meter scale and use them to provide fuels in a decentralized manner. They would be particularly suitable for remote communities or in refueling stations for ships.