Imran Asghar

I am a Professor (Associate) at Tampere University, where I lead the Renewable Energy Technologies Group. My personal motto is: "Energy is the future, let’s make it bright!". Driven by passion, my research focuses on clean energy technologies, including hydrogen and fuel cells, solar cells, batteries, and energy conversion and storage systems. I also hold the title of Docent (Adjunct Professor) at Aalto University in the field of Materials in Energy Technology. With both international recognition and industrial experience, I am actively engaged in advancing the hydrogen economy through scientific innovation and technology commercialization.

• Group leader of the Renewable Energy Technologies Group
• Teaching courses: Materials for Energy Technologies and Corrosion and Wear of Materials
• Supervisor of doctoral, master's, and bachelor's students
• Project leader for national and international research projects
• Member of admission committee for MSc in Materials Science and Engineering
• Contributor to Tampere University’s strategic initiatives in hydrogen research
• I coordinate activities within the Hydrogen Research Forum Finland, including managing the forum’s website, maintaining a national database of hydrogen-related projects, and representing the forum on international platforms such as Hydrogen Europe Week and Hydrogen Summits.
• Coordinator and organizer of Hydrogen Research Forum Finland Annual Seminar, Tampere, 29-30 October 2025.

My expertise lies in ceramic fuel cells and electrolysers, solar energy conversion, battery systems, and Power-to-X technologies. I specialize in advanced materials processing methods such as 3D printing, inkjet printing, and tape casting, and thin-film deposition techniques like ALD, PLD, and sputtering. My research integrates materials science, electrochemistry, and nanotechnology to develop next-generation energy devices.

• Academy of Finland Research Fellowship (2019–2024)
• Talent 100 Distinguished Professor Award, Hubei Province, China (2019–2023)
• Over 91 peer-reviewed publications and an h-index of 32
• Led the establishment of a commercialization pathway for reversible fuel cells
• “Outstanding Contribution Award” at the 6th Yangzi River Delta International Conference on New Energy (2020)

• Associate Editor, WIREs Energy and Environment (Wiley)
• Editorial Board Member, Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering
• Guest Editor, Catalysis Today (ITICAT2024 Special Issue)
• Evaluator for research funding agencies in Estonia, Switzerland, and Finland
• External examiner for several doctoral theses in Europe and Asia

My goal is to develop scalable and efficient clean energy technologies that can accelerate the transition to a carbon-neutral society. This includes advancing materials and devices for hydrogen production, fuel cells, solar cells, and energy storage, and promoting their commercialization for real-world applications.

• Solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysers
• Reversible ceramic fuel cells (R-CFCs)
• Hydrogen production and storage
• Advanced battery technologies
• Solar cells: dye-sensitized and perovskite
• Power-to-X and electrofuels
• Nanomaterials for energy applications

• Energy Materials
• Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Devices
• Nanotechnology
• Hydrogen Technologies
• Renewable Energy Systems
• Additive Manufacturing

• 2023–present: Associate Professor (Tenure Track), Tampere University
• 2019–2023: Academy of Finland Research Fellow, Aalto University
• 2018–2019: Senior Research Engineer, Marioff Oy (UTC)
• 2014–2018: Postdoctoral Researcher and Research Coordinator, Aalto University
• Visiting positions: DTU (Denmark), Hubei University (China)

1. Bilbey, B., Pandey, S., Zamudio‐Garcia, J., Savikko, A., Khoshkalam, M., Esposito, V. and Asghar, M. I.*, Advancement in Solid Oxide and Protonic Ceramic Electrolysis Cells: A Review, WIREs Energy and Environment, wene.70010, (2025).
2. Anwar, M. F., Yu, Y., Khalid, M., Nazar, A., Bibi, B., Sarfraz, M. F., Zhu, B.*, Huang, J.* and Asghar, M. I.*, Electrochemical insights into performance enhancement of protonic ceramic fuel cells with Ba(Zr,Ce,Y)O3-δ electrolyte, Energy Materials, Accepted, In press, (2025).
3.  Akbar, N., Shah, M. A. K. Y., Mushtaq, N., Zhu, B.*, Paydar, S. and Asghar, M. I.*, Designing SrCo0.8Fe0.2O3−δ-Fe3O4 nanocomposite heterostructure enabling high proton conduction for low temperature fuel cell, Ceramic International, Accepted, In press (2025).
4.  Ali, R., Aljohani, K., Ali, S., Rasool, S., Nazar, A., Bashir, T., Gao, Z.*, Raza, R.* and Asghar, M. I.*, Insight of potentials for perovskite cathode materials for solid oxide fuel cell and semiconductor membrane fuel cells, Ceramic International, Accepted, In press, (2025).
5.  Zhao, W., Hu, E., Wang, J.*, Lin, B.*, Wang, G., Wang, F., Zhu, B.*, Lund, P. D. and Asghar, M. I., Metallic heterostructure enables high performance in low temperature ceramic fuel cells , Applied Energy, 391, 125969 (2025).
6.  Golkhatmi, S. Z., Lund, P. D. and Asghar, M. I.*, A Novel CuFe2O4 Ink for Fabrication of Low-temperature Ceramic Fuel Cell Cathode Through Inkjet Printing, Materials Advances, 5, 143-158 (2024).
7.  Sun, X., Wang, J., Yu, J.*, Jing, Y.*, Liu, J., Singh, M., Lund, P. D.* and Asghar, M. I., Self-assembled formation of platinum single atoms and nanoclusters stabilized on MXene as an efficient catalyst for boosting electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 86, 502- 510 (2024).
8.  Wu, Y., Resendal, V., Vasiljevic, M., Asghar, M. I. and Esposito, V.*, Strain-Oxygen Vacancies Coupling in Topotactic LaSrCoO3-δ Thin Films, Applied Surface Science Advances, 24, 100644 (2024).
9.  Mousavi, S. M., Shirazi, H. D., Ranta, R., Asghar, M. I., Kasurinen, S., Halme, J. and Vapaavuori, J.*,  Addressing the efficiency loss and degradation of triple cation perovskite solar cells via integrated light managing encapsulation, Materials Today Energy, 46, 101707 (2024).
10. Sarfraz, Rasool, S., Khalid, M., Shah, M.A.K.Y, Zhu, B.*, Sik-Kim, J, Asghar, M.I., Akbar, N.* and Dong, W.*, Al3+ doped CeO2 for proton-conducting fuel cells, International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials (2024).