Nanoscale Horizons Emerging Investigator Series
Congratulations to our latest Emerging Investigator Dr Wouter Van Gompel (Hasselt University, Belgium)!
Since the launch of Nanoscale Horizons, the journal has had a clear vision to publish exceptionally high-quality work whilst acting as a resource to researchers working at all career levels. We continue to be impressed by the quality of the research published and at the same time are looking for new ways of recognising and promoting the outstanding authors behind articles published in the journal.
We launched our Emerging Investigator Series to showcase the exceptional work published by early-career researchers in the journal and regularly select a recently published Communication article to feature in an interview-style Editorial article with the corresponding author. We hope that the series will also benefit the nanoscience community by highlighting the exciting work being done by its early-career members.
We are excited to share our latest Emerging Investigator, Dr Wouter Van Gompel (Hasselt University, Belgium)!
Read our interview with Wouter
Dr Wouter Van Gompel received his Master’s degree in chemistry from Ghent University in 2015 and completed his PhD in chemistry at Hasselt University in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Dirk Vanderzande, supported by a personal PhD Fellowship from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). Following his PhD, he continued his work on hybrid perovskites as a postdoctoral researcher at Hasselt University from 2019 to 2023. During this period, he conducted international research stays at EPFL, in the group of Prof. Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin, and at the University of Cambridge, in the group of Prof. Samuel Stranks. In 2023, he was appointed assistant professor (Tenure Track) in the Chemistry Department at Hasselt University, part of the joint imec-UHasselt ‘Institute for Materials Research’ (IUMAT).
He currently leads the Hybrid Materials Design (HyMaD) group and serves as (co)supervisor for nine PhD researchers. In 2025, he received the PRISM Prize (Junior category) from the Istituto di Struttura della Materia (CNR-ISM) in Italy for significant contributions to materials research over the past five years.
His research centres on hybrid materials chemistry and optoelectronics, with emphasis on low-dimensional hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites (HOIPs). He investigates how tailored organic cations integrate into inorganic frameworks to modulate energy-level alignment, excitonic behavior, and charge transport. He also develops organic interlayers to enhance the stability and efficiency of perovskite solar cells. His approach combines molecular design, synthesis, and advanced characterization to establish structure–property-performance relationships in hybrid semiconductors for applications such as solar cells, photodetectors, and light-emitting devices.
Congratulations to Wouter for his excellent work! You can read his featured Emerging Investigator article from Nanoscale Horizons below.
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Ilan Devroey, Yorrick Boeije, Peter Banks, Claudio Quarti, Paola La Magna, Aleksandra Ciesielska, Laurence Lutsen, Elien Derveaux, Peter Adriaensens, Kristof Van Hecke, David Beljonne, Samuel D. Stranks and Wouter T. M. Van Gompel Nanoscale Horiz., 2026, 11, 185-201 |
We hope you enjoy reading our interview and featured article and are looking forward to sharing our future Emerging Investigators with you!
Do you publish innovative nanoscience and nanotechnology research? Submit your latest work to Nanoscale Horizons now. If you are eligible for the Emerging Investigators series, you could be considered to feature in one of our future interviews! Find out more about the eligibility criteria and the process in this editorial introducing the series.
