Driven by the freedom to pursue questions that matter, Fatima Abi Ghaida has spent much of her career developing nanomaterials, nanocrystals, and quantum dots, to integrate with silica-based platforms to address some of the most pressing challenges in zero-carbon energy. Building materials at an atom by atom level, Fatima believes this is where the next breakthroughs in clean energy will come from – and her work at CPT as QD Scientist is proof.
How would you describe what you do to someone with no science background?
The things I work with are so small that they start to break the normal rules of physics – and that’s exactly what makes them fascinating. These nanocrystals, called quantum dots, are behind the vivid colours on some of the screens we use every day. But the same particles can also be embedded into glass to help plants grow more efficiently, or used to capture sunlight and turn it into electricity, even on a grey, overcast day in the UK. By changing the size of something a few nanometres across, we can tune exactly how it interacts with light, and that opens up a huge range of possibilities.
Amazing! What led you to this point?
My travels have shown me first-hand what a lack of access to power means for a community. It touches everything from education to healthcare to basic safety. It made me want to work on energy solutions that could be deployed with minimal infrastructure, almost anywhere. At the same time, when I started working with SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) early in my career, I became fascinated by nanostructures, and the idea that you can completely change a material’s properties just by altering its shape and size at the nanoscale. Those two things came together for me: nanomaterials aren’t just a scientific curiosity, they’re a genuinely promising route to making clean energy more accessible.
My background spans the full materials development pipeline, from handling reactive precursors based on Group I and Group II metals, transition metals, and chalcogenides, to precision surface engineering and hybrid material design. I have applied this expertise to projects targeting green hydrogen production, ammonia as an e-fuel, and combustion optimization, giving me a broad perspective on how advanced nanomaterials can serve as enabling technologies across the renewable energy landscape.
What drew you to CPT?
It was really three things; the science, the potential impact, and CPT’s multidisciplinary approach combined. Singlet fission and photon multiplication are exciting on their own, but what CPT has done is bring organic chemistry, quantum mechanics, and nanocrystal science together into a single, world-first material – one that converts high-energy photons into silicon-optimised infrared light, boosting panel output by up to 15%. Critically, it does this without requiring new factories or production lines, so it’s about getting more out of the panels we already know how to make. That combination of ambition and practicality is what made me want to be part of CPT.
For most of my career, I’ve been driven by the freedom to pursue questions that matter, trying to understand why something happens and how it could be improved, rather than chasing publications for their own sake. But more recently, I’ve found myself wanting to see that work translate into something tangible, to have it in our hands, and to see people actually benefit from it. CPT feels like the natural next step in that shift – and the energy here is entirely different. It’s faster-paced, more upbeat, and there’s a real sense of pressure and challenge that pushes you. Problems need solving on a timeline that matters, and that urgency is something I find genuinely motivating.
What does your role at CPT look like day to day?
No two days look quite the same. On any given day I might be synthesising new batches of quantum dots for testing, brainstorming ways to push their photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) higher, or digging into the literature and patents, or advising and collaborating with colleagues on their projects. My specific focus is engineering the surface chemistry of PbS quantum dots – often through unconventional approaches – while making sure every step is rigorously documented and reproducible. PLQY sits at the very centre of CPT’s technology: the more efficiently these quantum dots can absorb and re-emit light, the more effective the overall photon multiplication process becomes. So in a very direct sense, the surface chemistry I’m developing at the bench feeds straight into how much extra power CPT’s technology can ultimately squeeze out of a solar panel.
A good day is one where I’ve either moved a synthesis or surface treatment a step closer to where it needs to be, or learned something, even from a result that didn’t go as expected, that sharpens the next experiment.
What would success look like for you in this role – in two years, in five?
In two years, I want to have developed a complete, validated system where my quantum dots are fully integrated into solar panels and we’re at pilot scale, ready to move into mass production. Alongside that, I’d like to have grown into a project management role where I’m leading my own QD team, designing and optimising new quantum dot systems from the ground up.
In five years, I’d hope to see that technology out in the world, panels on rooftops, in buildings, in communities that need reliable clean energy, and to have built a team that keeps pushing the science forward – long after the first milestone is hit. For me, success isn’t just a scientific result. It’s seeing something I helped build actually working, in someone’s hands, in a place where it makes a difference.
What excites you most about where solar technology could go?
Solar panels already have a certain aesthetic quality that makes them surprisingly easy to integrate into everyday life. They’re not just functional – they’re becoming part of architecture, design, and infrastructure. But I think the next leap comes from pairing them with solid-state batteries. That combination could make clean, portable energy more efficient, more affordable, and more accessible than it’s ever been, not just for homes and businesses, but for communities and places that have never had reliable power at all. That’s the future I’m working towards. And honestly, it’s why I got into this in the first place.
At CPT, we’re building the team that will take solar beyond its limits.
