Rate My Professor Anvar Zakhidov

Anvar Zakhidov is a Professor of Physics in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at The University of Texas at Dallas, a position he has held since 2002. He concurrently serves as Associate Director and co-founder of the Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute since 2001, leading the Nanophysics for Devices research group focused on advanced nanomaterials. Prior to UT Dallas, Zakhidov was Principal Research Scientist at Honeywell International (formerly AlliedSignal Inc.) from 1996 to 2001. His earlier career includes Honorific Head of the Molecular Systems Laboratory at the Uzbek Academy of Sciences since 1988, Head of the Laboratory for Radiation Physics of Organic Solids at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences from 1986 to 1988, Senior Research Associate there from 1984 to 1986, Senior Researcher at the Scientific Instruments Design Center of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences from 1981 to 1984, Ph.D. graduate student at the Institute of Spectroscopy of the USSR Academy of Sciences from 1977 to 1980, and Research Associate at the Physical-Technical Institute of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences from 1975 to 1977. Zakhidov earned his M.S. in Physical Electronics from Tashkent Technical University in 1975 and Ph.D. in Physics (optics) from the Institute of Spectroscopy of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1981.

Zakhidov's research specializations include advanced materials such as photonic crystals, nanostructured thermoelectrics, carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, and nanotechnology via self-assembly and micro-templating; optoelectronics of organic and molecular solids encompassing photocells, molecular electronic devices, and OLEDs; spectroscopy of molecular crystals, conducting polymers, fullerenes, charge-transfer complexes, organic ferromagnets, and high-temperature superconductors; and theory of low-dimensional organic solids involving excitons, polarons, bipolarons, and solitons. Current efforts involve designing photonic crystals for optical and microwave switches, nanogranular thermoelectric materials and devices, tunable photonic crystals based on carbon forms, conducting polymers, and ferroelectrics for optoelectronics and antennas, and carbon nanotube synthesis for actuators and multifunctional materials. He has garnered prestigious honors including Fellow of the American Physical Society in the materials physics division, 2020 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for pioneering contributions to functional nanomaterials including carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, and perovskites, Asian-American Engineer of the Year in 2003, Kapitza Medal from the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences in 2007 (shared with Ray Baughman), and induction as foreign member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences in 2007. Notable publications feature Efficient Unbalanced Absorption Organic-Perovskite Nonmonolithic Tandem Solar Cells in Parallel Connection (2025), D2O-Enhanced Twistron Yarn Harvesters for Low-Frequency Mechanical Energy Harvesting (2026), Highly Efficient Quasi 2D Blue Perovskite Electroluminescence Leveraging a Dual Ligand Composition (2023), and a 2007 paper on polymer solar cells honored as one of the Top 5 Hot Talks/Cool Papers at the Materials Research Society spring meeting. Zakhidov has contributed editorially as Managing Editor of the International Journal of Nanoscience, member of editorial boards for journals like Molecular Materials, and organizer of international conferences such as the Spring International Conference on Photonic, Excitonic, Spintronic Processes in Nanostructures in Dallas (2004).