2015–2019
Bachelor of Science
Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara.
About the Author
Loay Madbouly
Loay Madbouly is a materials scientist and engineer working at the intersection of surface analysis, two-dimensional materials, photovoltaics, machine learning and scientific software.
Current work
Surface analysis and scientific software
Since October 2023, Loay has been a doctoral researcher in Chemistry at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and a scientist at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin.
His current work uses XPS, SEM and machine-learning methods for analysing XP spectra, and includes international scientific collaborations. theFIT grows from this combination of surface-analysis practice, machine learning and scientific-software development.
Education and career
Materials science from fabrication to analysis
2019–2022
Master of Science
Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, METU, Ankara. Loay graduated with high honours; his research involved crystalline-silicon solar cells and passivation layers.
September 2019–February 2020
NanoLab
Work on a copper-iodide-nanowire UV photodetector and atomic-scale research on transition-metal oxides.
February 2020–September 2023
ODTÜ-GÜNAM
Research on oxide-based ultrathin films and crystalline-silicon solar-cell technologies, including a new implementation of Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXenes in solar cells.
Loay worked extensively with thermal evaporation, electron-beam evaporation and sputtering systems; served as a super-user for multiple high-vacuum and ultra-high-vacuum deposition systems; used ALD, lithography and cleanroom fabrication; and supervised solar-cell fabrication processes. His characterization work included XPS, SEM, EDX, XRD, Raman spectroscopy and ellipsometry.
Engineering experience
Research infrastructure and DevOps
Alongside his materials-science work, Loay worked full-time for one year as a DevOps engineer at Tiga Healthcare Technologies in Ankara, Türkiye. He was a core contributor in the infrastructure team supporting Tiga’s work on healthcare systems for Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health.
His work included Docker, Kubernetes, database administration and inspection using DBeaver, and the configuration and operation of both on-premises servers and Microsoft Azure cloud servers, together with other deployment, infrastructure and operational tooling.
Other technical experience includes silver-nanowire synthesis, HF etching, Keithley electrical measurements, Python, MATLAB, SQL, OriginPro and LabVIEW.
Selected work
Projects and publications
- theFIT: an AI-assisted workflow for fitting C 1s XPS spectra, with expert review remaining essential.
- Research on functionalized graphene nanoplatelets using Raman spectroscopy, XPS, SEM and EDX.
- Research on annealing-free electron-selective ZrO₂/Al contacts for n-type crystalline-silicon solar cells.
- Work on oxide passivation layers, ultrathin-film deposition, MXenes in solar cells and a copper-iodide-nanowire UV photodetector.
- Machine-learning methods for XP-spectrum analysis.
- Contributions associated with the EU-funded ACCORDs project (opens in a new tab) on characterization of graphene-family materials.
Selected publications
- Chemical Analysis of Commercial Functionalized Graphene Nanoplatelets along the Production Process with Raman Spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (opens in a new tab)
- Comparative Elemental Analysis of Commercial Functionalized Graphene Nanoplatelets Along the Production Chain With X-Ray Photoelectron and Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (opens in a new tab)
- Annealing-free, electron-selective ohmic contacts using zirconium oxide and aluminum for n-type crystalline silicon solar cells (opens in a new tab)
Recognition and communication
Research beyond the laboratory
Loay has received multiple research grants and awards in scientific competitions.
He has delivered or contributed to more than ten talks and poster presentations at international scientific conferences.
For professional or research enquiries, please use the Contact page.