Jayasundera Bandara

Professor Jayasundera Bandara is a Senior Research Professor at the National Institute of Fundamental Studies. He obtained a Graduateship in Chemistry in 1988 from the Institute of Chemistry, Sri Lanka and his M Phil Degree in 1991 from the University of Peradeniya. Prof Bandara's M Phil thesis was titled "Dinitrogen fixation on semiconductor catalysts". He obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Chemistry & Chemical Engineering in 1992 from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, with a thesis titled "Catalysts preparation by CVD method and their catalytic activity for methanol oxidation". Professor Bandara obtained his PhD in 1998 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland. His thesis was on "Degradation and Photodegradation of Azo- Dyes and Chlorophenols mediated by iron oxides". Prof Bandara has obtained Fellowships from the Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka, UNESCO/Japan Fellowship, Swiss Government Fellowship, Postdoctoral Fellowship, USA, Humboldt Fellowship, Germany and Goethe Institute Language Fellowship, Germany. He has also won Presidential Awards in 2000 and 2001 (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 pending) and the Young Scientist Award from NASTEC, Sri Lanka in 2006. Prof Bandara's teaching interests lie in the subject areas of inorganic chemistry, materials science and physical chemistry.

Currently, Prof Bandara conducts research at the National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka with the Photochemistry group. Research projects he is involved in include the study of photochemical and photoelectrochemical aspects of semiconductor based composite systems in order to achieve efficient charge separation in Photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells and photocatalysis and sustainable production of energy from renewable sources with a main emphasis on solar energy conversion processes to deliver heat, electricity and chemical fuel.