In 1988, he was appointed Professor at the University of Mons, Belgium, where he established the Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials.

While keeping an "Extraordinary Professorship" appointment in Mons, he moved to the US in 1999 and became Full Professor of Chemistry at the University of Arizona.

In July 2014, he took a 2-½-year leave of absence to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) where he served as Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Director of the KAUST Solar and Photovoltaics Research and Engineering Center.

In 2020, he returned to the University of Arizona where he is a Regents Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

He has published over 1,000 refereed articles (that –as of January 2023– have garnered over 85,000 citations, leading to a Web of Science h-index of 135)[4] and given over 500 invited presentations.