Boris OREL

Prof. Dr. B. Orel, now emeritus researcher, started his scientific carrier at the National Institute of Chemistry (1966), where he worked with Prof. Dr. D. Hadzi. In the course of his PhD studies (1970-1972) he succeeded in finding from infrared spectra measurements evidence for the existence of symmetrical hydrogen bond in some organic acids, which at that time diffraction analysis have not been able to confirm. In 1990, he commenced in Slovenia the manufacture of thin metal oxide films from organic silicone precursors using sol-gel chemistry processing and used them as intercalation/deintercalation materials (for Li+, H+, I- / I3-) in electrochromic devices (smart windows). Sol-gel processing enabled the manufacture of a variety of organic/inorganic nanostructured coatings and thin films used as water repellent finishes for textile fabrics, hard coatings, and corrosion protective coatings. The latter coatings were patented and patent sold to ALANOD (DE). ALANOD also acquired a patent disclosing fabrication of paint suitable for mass production of solar absorbers (> 5 million m2/year).

Al-coil with spectrally selective coating (as = 0.90, eT = 0.20) used for absorbers in solar thermal collectors. Alanod (DE) bought our patent SI 23055 (A) (2009) and patented it world wide (last extension 2019). For absorber coating fabrication sol gel processing was used.

1967 Degree, majoring on vibrational spectroscopy, University of Ljubljana

1972 PhD on spectra of symmetric hydrogen bond systems, University of Ljubljana

1979 Assistant professor, University of Ljubljana

1981 Visiting research fellow, CNRS, Paris

1994 Head of Laboratory for Spectroscopy of Materials, National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana

2007 Full professor, University of Ljubljana

2014 Emeritus researcher, National Institue of Chemistry, Ljubljana

Important Works

B. Orel et al. (1993) Radiative cooling efficiency of white pigmented paints. Solar Energy 50(6): 477-482.

Vilčnik Aljaž et al. (2009) Structural properties and antibacterial effects of hydrophobic and oleophobic solgel coatings for cotton fabrics, Langmuir, 25(10): 5869-5880.

M. Koželj et al. (2019) Aminosilane modified pigments for spectrally selective coatings, EP 2 261 288 B1, 2019- 01-16., 32 pages.

Selected Awards

1986 Boris Kidrič Fund Award

2008 Pregl Award

2010 Puh Award for the applications of scientific results in industrial processing

2009 Golden Plaque for innovation, Chamber of Commerce

2010 ARRS Technology transfer Award