Prof. Lars Österlund

Lars Österlund is Professor of Chemistry at Umeå University and Guest Professor in Solid State Electronics at Uppsala University. He serves on multiple scientific boards, including the the journal Materials and Photochem, the Uppsala International Science Program, and TCMnet, and chaired the Materials Science and Technology panel at the Swedish Research Council until 2022. He is a foreign member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences and co-founder of several spin-offs, including Aqua Catalytix, SweSenSi and RegenCura. 

He earned his PhD (1997) at Chalmers under Bengt Kasemo in surface science and photo-induced reactions, followed by postdoctoral work at Aarhus University with Flemming Besenbacher using STM on metal and oxide surfaces. 

His research centers on photon- and electron-stimulated surface reactions, mixed-anion nanomaterials, photocatalysis, chromogenic, transparent conducting oxides, and solid-state gas sensors. The group employs advanced PVD nanoparticle deposition, operando IR and Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and synchrotron-based photoelectron spectroscopy. Recent work includes photon-induced carbonate formation on wide bandgap minerals, nano- and micro-templated chromic structures for cover glass and displays.