April 2022. Aerobic Photobiocatalysis by Core–Shell Nanophotoreactors and Native Enzymes
Our recent paper on cascade photo- and enzymatic catalysis is out, check it out!
March 2022. Kai awarded with Materials Today EPJ Award
Kai has been awarded with the Materials Today EPJ Award 2021, congratulations!
June 2021. Review on Classical Polymer photocatalysts
Our recent review on Classical Polymers as Highly Tunable and Designable Heterogeneous Photocatalysts is out, check it out!
March 2021. Review on Covalent Triazine Frameworks as emerging photocatalysts
Our recent review on recent development of covalent triazine frameworks for heterogeneous photocatalysis in Chemistry of Materials is out, check it out!
October 2020. Review on CMPs for photocatalysis
Our recent review on conjugated microporous polymers as heterogeneous photocatalysts in Solar RRL is out, check it out!
July 2020. How to make CTF nanoparticles? Bake them in a nano dish!
Construction of covalent tiazine framework (CTF) in nanoparticle shape has been barely possible. Now you can do it, just bake them in a nano dish in oven! Check out our new paper in Angewandte Chemie.
January 2020. Joint paper with Run Li
We are very happy to collaborate with Run Li, former PhD student and now assist. professor at Hunan University, China, on our joint paper. Check it out in Chemistry of Materials!
January 2020. Build a shining house with CPPs
Check out our recent review on designing conjugated porous polymers for photocatalysis published in Materials Horizons.
November 2019. Price for Kai
Kai was selected as one of the “2019 Top 10 Leading Chinese Talents for Science and Technology in Europe”, congratulations!
June 2019. Lights, Temperature, (Re)Action!
Check out Calum’s and Niklas’ new paper on dual-responsive photocatalytic polymer nanogels in Angewandte Chemie!
May 2019. Niklas admitted to the Gutenberg Academy
Niklas Huber was officially admitted as a junior member of the Gutenberg Academy! The Gutenberg Academy supports JGU’s best young researchers and young artists in the development of their professional careers in the arts and sciences. Congratulations Niklas!
April 2019. Blowing up like a puffer fish
Check out Jeehye’s new paper “Conjugated Polymer Hydrogel Photocatalysts with Expandable Photoactive Sites in Water” in Chemistry of Materials!
December 2018. Prestige Kekulé- Fellowship for Niklas Huber
Niklas Huber was awarded with the highly prestige Kekulé- Fellowship by the German Chemical Industry Fund (Fonds der Chemischen Industrie, FCI). Congratulations Niklas!
November 2018. Sino-German Symposium hosted at MPIP in Mainz
Together with the department of Physics at Interfaces (Prof. H.-J. Butt), our department (Landfester) hosted the 2018 Sino-German Symposium on Polymers and Interfaces: Construction, Characterization and Functionalization
September 2018. Human Kicker Champions
Congratulations to Niklas and Can from the team NanoBoyz and team Kung Fu for winning the gold and silver metals at the human kicker games at this year’s MPIP summer festival!
August 2018. Group members on the road
Jeehye gave a contributed talk and Kai gave an invited talk at the ACS fall meeting in Boston, USA. It was fun meeting our old friend Samuel Adams again!
Kai selected as 2018 Emerging Investigator by Journal of Materials Chemistry A
August 2018. Kai has been selected as 2018 Emerging Investigator by Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).
Check our contribution with Cyrine‘s new paper “Designing conjugated microporous polymers for visible light-promoted photocatalytic carbon-carbon double bond cleavage in aqueous medium” to the themed collection “2018 Emerging Investigators” in JMCA.
PhD Fellowship of Graduate School of Excellence Materials Science in Mainz (MAINZ) for Cyrine
June 2018. Cyrine has been awarded with the PhD fellowship from the Graduate School of Excellence Materials Science in Mainz (MAINZ). MAINZ is an international doctoral program within the Excellence Initiative funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeischaft (DFG) and the state of Rheinland-Palatinate.
Congratulations Cyrine!
Kai @ the Sino-German Young Scientist Forum
Kai and Olaia @ the German-Spanish Symposium on Functional Hybrid Nanomaterials
New Paper “Asymmetric Covalent Triazine Framework for Enhanced Visible Light Photoredox Catalysis via Energy Transfer Cascade” in Angewandte Chemie
The construction of complex multiple component semiconductor photocatalyts allows enhanced catalytic efficiency via multiple charge and energy transfer, which mimics the nature photosystems. However, the efficiency of single component semiconductor photocatalysts is usually inhibited due to the fast recombination of the photo‐generated excitons. Here, we report the design of an asymmetric covalent triazine framework as efficient single component organic semiconductor photocatalyst. Four different molecular donor‐acceptor domains are obtained within the network, leading to an enhanced photogenerated charge separation via intramolecular energy transfer cascade. The superior photocatalytic efficiency of the asymmetric covalent triazine framework over its symmetric counterparts was demonstrated via the visible light‐driven formation of benzophosphole oxides from diphenylphosphine oxide and diphenylacetylene.
New Paper “CO2-Triggered Switchable Hydrophilicity of Heterogeneous Conjugated Polymer Photocatalyst for Enhanced Catalytic Activity in Water” in Angewandte Chemie
Water-compatibility of heterogeneous photocatalysts has been pursued for energy and environmental applications. However, there exists a trade-off between hydrophilicity and recyclability of the photocatalyst. MPIP researchers have designed a conjugated polymer photocatalyst with tertiary amine terminals that reversibly binds CO2 in water, generating a switchable hydrophilicity. The CO2-assisted hydrophilicity boosted up the photocatalytic efficiency in aqueous medium with minimum dosage. When CO2 was desorbed, the photocatalyst could be simply regenerated from reaction media, facilitating the repeated use of photocatalyst. The hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity control of the polymer photocatalyst has successfully showcased through a variety of organic photo-redox reactions under visible light irradiation in water.
Graduation: PhD succeeded!
Wei has successfully defended his PhD thesis! Congratulations Dr. Huang!
Graduation: PhD succeeded!
Run has successfully defended his PhD thesis! Congratulations Dr. Li!
Graduation: PhD succeeded!
Lei has successfully defended his PhD thesis! Congratulations Dr. Wang!
New Paper: Bye Bye Palladium!
Advanced Science News reported our work on palladium-free photocatalytic Stille-Type Coupling.
Graduation: PhD succeeded!
Beatriz has successfully defended her PhD thesis! Congratulations Dr. Ma!
Prizes & Awards: Congratulations to Beatriz!
July 2016. Beatriz Ma has been awarded the group prize for “Future challenges in polymer sciences” at the Leibniz Young Polymer Scientist Forum, sponsored by Evonik Industries. The event was held at the DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen, Germany on July 6-7, 2016.
Prizes & Awards: Congratulations to Kai!
April 2016. Kai received the the fellowship “Young Leaders in Science” from the the Ernst Schering Foundation.
Prizes & Awards: Congratulations to Run!
April 2016. Run won the Poster Prize at the “Polymer Photocatalysts for Solar Fuels Synthesis” on 13.-14. April 2016 in London. Congratulations!
PhD succeeded: Congratulations to Zi Jun!
January 2016. Zi Jun has successfully defended her PhD thesis!
Congratulations Dr. Wang!
Kai receives the guest professorship “la chaire TOTAL de la Fondation Ballard” at the University of Montpellier, France.
December 2015. The Fondation Ballard was established to enhance higher education and academic cooperation in Chemistry in southern France. The guest professorship “La chaire TOTAL de la Fondation Ballard” was created with financial support of TOTAL, to invite “internationally renowned scientists from outside France to perform research and teaching and to establish future exchanges and collaborations between the invited professor and host university.”
Kai is one of this year’s laureates to visit the Institute Charles Gerhardt at the University of Montpellier, France in December 2015. This institute is a flagship institution of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) particularly active in macro/supra-molecular chemistry, self-organization, hybrid materials and fundamental electrochemistry.
