Polymer Chemistry

Lavinia BALAN obtained the PhD degree from the University Henry Poincaré in Nancy, France, in 2005. Her PhD was devoted to the elaboration of an original material for the anode of Li-ion batteries. After a post doctorate in Orleans and then in Mulhouse, she joined the Department of Photochemistry of Mulhouse in 2006 as a CNRS Senior Researcher. She opened a new field of research in this laboratory, viz. the photo-assisted synthesis of metal nanoparticles and metal-polymer nanocomposite. Since December 2009, L. Balan joined the Institute of Materials Science of Mulhouse (IS2M)-CNRS. She has published more than 100 scientific publications, 4 book chapters and 5 patents. Dr. L. Balan has been serving as an editorial board member for few scientific journals.

L. Balan research are concerned with photochemical synthesis of metal/polymer nanocomposites and design, customization and characterization of metal nanoparticles and nanocrystals (quantum dots) suited for advanced applications in the fields of optic, photonics, plasmonics, imaging or biology.

Prof. Peter Foot studied chemistry at the Universities of Southampton and Oxford. Later, working at Brighton and Sussex Universities, he became interested in solid inorganic materials and organic polymers. His current research mainly involves functional polymers and nanocomposites for energy conversion, organic electronics and drug delivery. Peter is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and an active member of other professional bodies in chemistry, physics and materials science. He has lectured and collaborated widely in interdisciplinary research. Peter Foot has been leader of the Materials Research Group, Kingston University London (since 1995). He was the Founding Director of the Centre for Materials Research (2008-10). This is now the Nanomaterials and Composites Research Centre. Professor of Materials Science, Kingston University (1998-2013). Current Position: Emeritus Professor of Materials Science (2014-2019) Prof. Foot is currently supervising 5 Ph.D. students at Kingston University. He has previously been the supervisor of 56 successfully-completed research students (8 as co-supervisor), and of 9 postdoctoral researchers. Peter has attracted research funding of almost £2M in the past, including a recent KTP award (2013-15) worth about £130k from InnovateUK.

* Organic electronics and photovoltaic materials. * Conducting polymer synthesis, properties and device applications, e.g. Biosensors. * Polymer nanocomposites and polyblends. * Electrochromic display materials and liquid crystal conducting polymers. Evaporable organic semiconductors and OFET devices. * Smart polymers & nanomaterials for drug-delivery. * Lightweight composites and bone-replacement materials.

Krzysztof K Krawczyk received MSc in Environmental Studies and a PhD in Chemical Sciences at the University of Warsaw (Poland), both under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Zbigniew Czarnocki (Laboratory of Natural Products Chemistry). In 2011 he was Guest Researcher at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique in Caen (France) working on chemically robust magnetic core-shell nanoparticles with Prof. Dr. Bernhard Witulski. In 2012, he received the “Kolumb” Fellowship of the Foundation for Polish Science to work at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) in the group of Prof. Dr. Ben L Feringa (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2016). In 2015, he moved to the Montanuniversitaet Leoben (Austria) where he is currently working at the Department of Polymer Engineering and Science.

His research interests range from photochemistry, including photoinitiators and molecular switches, to the design of new nanostructured composites and conductive inks for printed electronics.

Wolfgang Knoll was appointed director and scientific member of the MPI-P in 1993. He headed the department of material science until 2008.Wolfgang Knoll moved to the Austrian Institute of Technology as managing director in 2008.

Research interests included aspects of the structure/ order - property/ function relationships of polymeric/ organic systems, in particular, in thin films and at functionalized surfaces. Strong emphasis was put on optical techniques to elucidate the structural and functional properties of supramolecular assemblies and nano-materials.

Dr. Vladimir Shelkovnikov is head of laboratory of the light-sensitive materials in the Novosibirsk Institute of Organic Chemistry, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Education: Tomsk Polytechnical Institute, Tomsk, USSR,1978,Chemistry, Radiation Chemistry, Kemerovo State University, Kemerovo, USSR, 1984, Ph.D. Physical Chemistry, Institute of inorganic chemistry, Novosibirsk, Russia, 2009, Degree doctor of science.

Chemistry and photonics of the organic chromophores and polymer compositions. More than 30 years varied experience in chemistry and photonics of organic medium.

Dong Ha Kim is currently a Full Professor and Ewha Fellow in the Department of Chemistry and Nano Science of School of Natural Sciences at Ewha Woman’s University and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has authored 145 SCI publications and holds 29 registered Korean and two US patents. He is serving as Associate Editor of Science of Advanced Materials (American Scientific Publishers), Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Groups) and Advisory Board Member of Nanoscale and J. Mater. Chem. (Royal Society of Chemistry).

His research interests include development of multi-functional hybrid nanostructures for applications in energy storage and conversion, environmental remediation, memory devices, display devices, and biomedical diagnosis/therapy, surface plasmon resonance mediated theranostics, optoelectronics, photocatalysis and light emission.