Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

Explore our most popular articles 

The selection of most popular reviews and articles below highlights work that is capturing the attention of the community and shaping future research directions. We hope you enjoy exploring these articles and that it may help you strengthen your current or future research projects..

Reviews

	Pressure as a hidden constraint in all-solid-state batteries: engineering pathways toward low-pressure and scalable operation Muhammud Sajjad, Ling Gao, Zhaoxin Lu, Abdul Jabbar Khan, Siqi Shi, Guowei Zhao DOI: 10.1039/d6ta04573a
	Toward self-driving laboratory 2.0 for chemistry and materials discovery Heeseung Lee, Hyuk Jun Yoo, Hye Su Jang, Byeongho Park, Yang Jeong Park, Sang Soo Han DOI: 10.1039/D5MH01984B
	Multi-scale structural design of electromagnetic wave absorbers: pathways to improved performance Yang Guan, Yongpeng Wu, Jianyu Zhou, Kai Yao, Ruolin Liu, Yang Yang, Wei Lu   DOI: 10.1039/d5mh02482j

Communications

	Correlated terahertz phonon–ion interactions control ion conduction in a solid electrolyte Kim H. Pham, Kiarash Gordiz , Natan A. Spear , Amy K. Lin, Jonathan M. Michelsen, Hanzhe Liu, Daniele Vivona, Geoffrey A. Blake, Yang Shao-Horn, Asegun Henry, Kimberly A. See , Scott K. Cushing DOI: 10.1039/D5MH01990G
	Lead-free layered halide double perovskites with aromatic organic cations for resistive switching memories and artificial synapses Mubashir Mushtaq Ganaie , Mahdi Mohammadi, Michalis Loizos, Konstantinos Rogdakis , Rashid M. Ansari, Gianluca Bravetti, Maryam Ghasemi, Mohammad Reza Golobostanfard, Kishan Kumar, Shahab Ahmad, Satyajit Sahu, Emmanuel Kymakis, Wolfgang Tress, Jovana V. Milić, Mahesh Kumar DOI: 10.1039/D5MH02220G
	Printable, self-healing and recyclable PEDOT:PSS/polyurethane composites for durable bioelectronics Jinsil Kim, Fabio Cicoira DOI: 10.1039/D6MH00177G
	3D manipulation of cell spheroids using laser-actuated microrobots   Y. Wang ,P. Harder, N. İyisan, B. Özkale DOI: 10.1039/D5MH01861G

Papers

	Mechanistic model for improved performance of mRNA–LNPs formulated under turbulent mixing conditions Richard Mosesso, Katie Randall, Amita Vaidya, Jackie Tang , Trent Northen, Aurélie Deliot, Mengwei Sun, Rebecca Goldman, Adam Lyons, Lingyun Liu, Shrirang Karve, Frank DeRosa DOI: 10.1039/d6tb00052e
	Role of redox-active centres and charge density in covalent organic networks for energy storage applications as high-performance asymmetric supercapacitors Koustab Chowdhury, Nikita Ahlawat, Love Bansal, Sayantan Sarkar, Plabani Samanta, Rajesh Kumar, Suman Mukhopadhyay DOI: 10.1039/D6TC00337K
	Efficient ammonia synthesis via electrocatalytic nitrate reduction over a [8 + 2]-connected three-dimensional metal-bipyridine covalent organic framework Tsukasa Irie, Ayumu Kondo, Kai Sun, Kohki Sasaki, Mika Nozaki, Shiho Tomihari, Kotaro Sato, Tokuhisa Kawawaki, Yu Zhao, Saikat Das, Yuichi Negishi DOI: 10.1039/D5TA07989F
	Oxygen-deficient bimetallic oxide M0.11W0.89O3−x for flexible energy storage and electrochromic applications Pritha Dutta , Kavya V. Palliyal , Ramya Prabhu, Ashutosh K. Singh DOI: 10.1039/D6TA01049K
	GalNAc-modified five-component lipid nanoparticles for liver-targeted delivery of p65 siRNA to alleviate cytokine storm in liver injury via NF-κB targeting Zhijie Liang , Shaorong Li , Huali Huang, Shuying Luo, Hongmian Jiang, Lifeng Luo Jinzhuai Li, Kun Zhao DOI: 10.1039/d6tb00003g
	Zwitterion-assisted growth and strain optimisation of perovskite single crystals for high-performance photon counting radiation detection Jayana Jayarathne, Joydip Ghosh , Justin Reiss , Robert Lavelle,  Steven J. Hinder, Douglas Wolfe , Carol Crean, Paul Sellin DOI: 10.1039/d5tc03740a
	A multifunctional bismuth-based metal–organic framework with record-high porosity, rare topology, and efficient visible light photocatalysis Michelle Åhlén , Ha Phan , Mariusz Kubus, James N. McPherson, Francoise M. Amombo Noa, Lars Öhrström , Kasper S. Pedersen, Maria Strømme, Ocean Cheung DOI: 10.1039/d6ta01278g
	Characterizing the MnO2 dissolution process via EQCM for rechargeable aqueous batteries Minseok Choi,  Aaron Reed , Cyrus Mirsafian , Sang Ha Baek, Randy Chen, Bruce Dunn DOI : 10.1039/D5TA10427K
	Singlet–triplet gaps for evaluating thermally activated delayed fluorescence: which one is the (b)EST? Ali Shuaib,  Lubna Salah,  Antonio Prlj, Narendran Rajendran, Marc K. Etherington , Ahmed Abdel Nazeer, Carlito S. Ponseca, Jr, Andrew P. Monkman , Andrew Danos, Saad Makhseed DOI: 10.1039/d5tc03735b
	pH-responsive smart hydrogel dressing for controlled antimicrobial therapy and accelerated wound healing  Essam A. M. S. Obaid, Ruining Bai, Zhifeng Fu DOI: 10.1039/d6tb00327c
	Enhancing durability of Pt-coated titanium porous transport layers for PEM water electrolysis using TiN interlayers Muhammad Azhar Iqbal , Sukhvant Singh Aditya Singh, Samaneh Shahgaldi DOI: 10.1039/D5MA01378J

We hope you enjoyed this selection of our most popular research over the last few months. If you would like to stay up to date with our latest publications and journal news, sign up to receive newsletters and alerts.

​  Explore the materials portfolio at the Royal Society of Chemistry 

Congratulations to the winners of the best poster awards at ECME 2025 in Cambridge, UK.

Molecular Systems Design and Engineering poster prize was awarded to: Wentao Shan, KAUST

Journal of Materials Chemistry B poster prize was awarded to: Beier Hu, Imperial College

Materials Advances poster prize was awarded to: Giacomo Cotelli, University of Bayreuth

Journal of Materials Chemistry C poster prize was awarded to: Yuyun Yao, University of Oxford

Journal of Materials Chemistry B, Biomaterials Science and Materials Advances were proud to sponsor three best poster awards at the SupraLife Final International Conference, which took place at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, from 29 September to 3 October.

1st best poster award (Journal of Materials Chemistry B):  Thibault Sampon, Maastricht University, The Netherlands

2nd best poster award (Biomaterials Science): Mariana Carreira, University of Aveiro, Portugal

3rd best poster award (Materials Advances): Lorenzo Fumagalli, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Materials Advances is delighted to announce an open call for papers to our new themed collection focusing on polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzers!

If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please get in touch with the Editorial Office by email.

This themed collection is Guest Edited by:

• Dr Shahid Zaman, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
• Professor Min Wang, China University of Petroleum (East China)

The growing demand for clean, renewable energy has intensified the need for efficient and sustainable technologies to produce hydrogen from water. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers — encompassing both proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs) and anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) — are emerging as promising solutions for green hydrogen production due to their high efficiency, scalability, and ability to integrate with intermittent renewable energy sources. However, to fully unlock the potential of these technologies, significant advancements in materials design and engineering are required.

This collection will be structured around two main themes:

1. Research focusing on electrocatalyst materials and methods
2. Materials development for cell components

Topics include but are not limited to:

• Material and methods for OER and HER electrocatalyst fabrication
• Research on PEM electrolyzer components developments, including membranes, ionomers, porous transport layers, gas diffusion layers and bipolar plates
• Catalyst layer fabrication, materials, methods and methodologies for PEM water electrolyzer cells.

We are happy to consider both review articles and primary research work.

Submit your article before 28 February 2026.

Publishing open access with RSC journals unlochttps://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/maks the full potential of your research – bringing increased visibility, wider readership and higher citation potential to your work. As a not-for-profit organisation serving the chemical sciences community, we ensure that our article processing charge (APC) remains the most competitive of major publishers. More details can be found here and the standard APC for Materials Advances is £2,100 (+local taxes if applicable). There is a 15% RSC member and RSC open access agreement discount available (applicable to full price only). You can also use our journal finder tool to check if your institution currently has an agreement with the RSC that may entitle you to a discount of the APC.

Additional submission information

Please add a “note to the editor” in the submission form when you submit your manuscript to say that this is a submission for the themed collection polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzers.

The Editorial Office and Guest Editors reserve the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of the collection and inclusion of accepted articles in the collection is not guaranteed. All manuscripts will be subject to the journal’s usual peer review process. Accepted manuscripts will be added to the online collection as soon as they are online, and they will be published in a regular issue of Materials Advances.

Materials Advances is delighted to announce an open call for papers to our new themed collection focusing on amorphous materials!

If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please get in touch with the Editorial Office by email.

This themed collection is Guest Edited by:

• Professor Shuai Wei, Aarhus University
• Professor Juejun Hu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Dr Yanwen Sun, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Amorphous materials, broadly defined as condensed matter without crystalline structures, have become subjects of increasing interest in the twenty-first century. Philip W. Anderson once observed that “Randomness and disorder could result in generic properties that are utterly different from those of merely somewhat impure regular materials”. Amorphous materials exemplify this principle, inhabiting a realm of intrinsic complexity from structural disorder and often being intertwined with the problems of nonequilibrium or far-from-equilibrium behaviors. This broad category encompasses a wide range of systems including, but not limited to, oxide glasses, amorphous metals, chalcogenide and metalloids, molecular systems, polymers, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and even amorphous ice. Research in amorphous materials not only searches for new phenomena and new types of theories for “the deepest puzzle” in condensed matter science, but also is indispensable for technological innovations, spanning displays, mechanical components, electronic and photonic computing circuits, biomedicine and drug delivery vehicles, energy storage devices, and beyond.

This themed collection on Amorphous Materials invites contributions from research communities of amorphous materials across disciplines including physics, chemistry, and materials engineering. It aims to bring together diverse perspectives from various fields to highlight current frontiers and future directions in the research of amorphous materials. The scope includes:

• Various types of amorphous materials, including, not limited to, oxide and geological glasses, amorphous metals, chalcogenide and metalloids, molecular systems, polymers, MOFs, and amorphous ice and aqueous system
• Dynamics, relaxations, aging, property drifting, ultrastable glasses, rejuvenations
• Phase transitions, glass transitions, crystallizations, melting, phase switching, polyamorphism,
• Emerging experimental techniques, including in-situ, operando, atomic- and nano-scales, multiscale, ultrafast, time-resolved, pump-probe, pulse/photo-excited
• Properties including mechanical, electronic, optical, vibrational, thermodynamical, and kinetic properties
• Structure-property relationships
• Materials in extreme conditions, high pressure, high voltage, external fields, and superheating, supercooling
• Theories, models, simulations, machine learning, and novel computational methods
• Applications of amorphous solids in functional devices

We are happy to consider both review articles and primary research work. If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please get in touch with the Editorial Office.

Submit your article before 28 February 2026.

Publishing open access with RSC journals unlocks the full potential of your research – bringing increased visibility, wider readership and higher citation potential to your work. As a not-for-profit organisation serving the chemical sciences community, we ensure that our article processing charge (APC) remains the most competitive of major publishers. More details can be found here and the standard APC for Materials Advances is £2,100 (+local taxes if applicable). There is a 15% RSC member and RSC open access agreement discount available (applicable to full price only). You can also use our journal finder tool to check if your institution currently has an agreement with the RSC that may entitle you to a discount of the APC.

Additional submission information

Please add a “note to the editor” in the submission form when you submit your manuscript to say that this is a submission for the themed collection amorphous materials.

The Editorial Office and Guest Editors reserve the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of the collection and inclusion of accepted articles in the collection is not guaranteed. All manuscripts will be subject to the journal’s usual peer review process. Accepted manuscripts will be added to the online collection as soon as they are online, and they will be published in a regular issue of Materials Advances.

Congratulations to the winners of the Best Short Oral Presentation Prizes at the 21st International Zeolite Conference in Dalian, China!

Guangrui Chen, Jilin University

Guangrui Chen received his Ph.D. degree from Jilin University in 2022 under the supervision of Prof. Jihong Yu. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Yu’s group. His research focuses on developing new synthesis strategies and exploring catalytic applications for hierarchical zeolites and zeolite-based composites.

Qiang Zhang, Jilin University

Qiang Zhang is currently an associate professor at Jilin University. He received his Ph.D. degree from Jilin University in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Jihong Yu. After a Dingxin Scholar Postdoctoral experience with Prof. Jihong Yu, he joined the International Center of Future Science at Jilin University in 2024. His research interests include designed synthesis and crystallization mechanism of zeolite materials and the catalytic applications of zeolite and zeolite-based catalysts in C1 chemistry, lactide production, propane dehydrogenation, and low-temperature alkane oxidation.

Fang Li, East China Normal University

Peng Zhu, Dalian University of Technology

Weiyu Wang, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology,CAS

Hao Xiong, Tsinghua University

Hao Xiong received his BS degree (2019) and PhD degree (2024) in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University under the supervision of Prof. Fei Wei. He continued his postdoctoral work at Tsinghua University. His research interests are in the development of in situ low-dose imaging techniques and their application in heterogeneous catalysis.

Bo Peng, Sinopec Research Institute of Petroleum Processing Co., LTD.

Bo Peng graduated from Tsinghua University and Nanjing University with B. Eng. and M. Sc. degrees, respectively. He then worked as a Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter at Lehrstuhl II für Technische Chemie, Technische Universität München, and received his doctoral title (Dr.-Ing.) in 2016 supervised by Prof. Johannes A. Lercher. Afterward, he conducted postdoctoral research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Applied Catalysis Team, Energy & Environment Directorate) and was offered a research engineer position in 2019. At the end of 2019, Bo joined SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP) as a staff engineer in the FCC Catalysts Department. The institute re-established the Basic Research Department in 2024, where Bo acts as the deputy director responsible for the R&D activities. He is also a research fellow and is an adjunct graduate student advisor at multiple universities and research institutes. Bo is active in application-oriented fundamental research for refining technology and green carbon science, specializing in heterogeneous catalysis and reaction engineering. In addition, he is the executive director of RIPP’s youth academic committee, an editorial board member of the journal “Carbon and Hydrogen”, and a member of CIESC’s petrochemical engineering professional committee.

Sen Wang, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Tongrui Liu, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Tongrui Liu is currently a PhD candidate in the team of Academician Zhongmin Liu and Prof. Peng Tian at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics(DICP). His research interest is focused on the development of efficient synthesis methods for zeolites and their catalytic applications, with a specific focus on the efficient and controllable synthesis of small-pore zeolites, as well as the modulation of their properties in the fields of SCR and MTO.

Yipu Xu, China University of Petroleum

Yi-Pu Xu is a PhD student jointly affiliated with the China University of Petroleum (East China) and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics. At this conference, I’ve given a short oral presentation entitled “Diffusion and Cracking Reaction Kinetics Study Based on ZSM-5@meso-SiO₂ Model Catalysts.” I’m really honored to share our work, and I think it’s incredibly meaningful to have the chance to engage in scientific discussions with researchers from around the world at my PhD stage.

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Prakash Chandra Mondal (Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India) to the Advisory Board of Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

Dr. Prakash Chandra Mondal received his M.Sc. in Chemistry from IIT Kharagpur in 2008, and Ph.D. from the University of Delhi, India in 2013. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel (2013-2016), then moved to the University of Alberta, Canada. Before joining IIT Kanpur in 2019, he was a Marie-Curie post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Valencia, Spain. At present, he is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at IIT Kanpur. He works on surface chemistry, electrochromic devices, molecular electronics, and nanofabrication.

Read our interview with Dr. Mondal:

Question: What does it mean to you to join the Advisory Board of the Journal of Materials Chemistry C?

Answer: It is my immense pleasure to join the Advisory Board of the Journal of Materials Chemistry C. This role signifies a meaningful recognition of our teamwork, largely on the ‘molecular electronics’ and provides a valuable opportunity to engage with leading scholars in guiding the journal’s strategic vision. I am committed to supporting the journal’s mission by ensuring the highest standards of scientific rigor and integrity, promoting cutting-edge research, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. I look forward to contributing to the advancement of materials chemistry research and helping to maintain the journal’s position as a premier platform for impactful research in optical, electronic, and magnetic materials. Ultimately, it is a valuable opportunity to contribute to the scientific community and help foster emerging research that can drive future technological breakthroughs.

Question: What is the biggest challenge you currently face in your field?

Answer: The success of any research lab often depends on the passion and creativity of its young researchers. Challenges strengthen a field and shape innovative breakthroughs. The biggest challenge in the fabrication of molecular-scale devices lies in the transition from individual molecule measurements to practical, scalable devices. Integrating molecular electronics with existing silicon-based technologies is also a hurdle.

Question: What advances in your field are you most excited about?

Answer: ‘Molecular electronics’ itself is an exciting domain, where molecules mimic conventional electronics. What excites me most is that why molecules behave tunable electronic features and in-depth understanding through the lenses of experimental and computational studies. Engineering the molecule-electrode interface, crucial for the charge transport studies in molecular electronics, by employing an electrochemical grafting method, is a step towards the fabrication of a robust interface. In our laboratory at IIT Kanpur, we prepare molecular thin films via an electrochemical grafting method to create covalent interfaces between electrode-molecules, controlled thickness, and homo to heterostructures. I am also excited about integrating machine learning with molecular memory devices to enable intelligent, adaptive, and predictive electronics systems at the nanoscale and to merge biology with electronics to develop smart and selective biosensors.

Read Dr. Prakash Chandra Mondal’s latest publications in Journal of Materials Chemistry C below:

Magnetic field enhanced charge conduction in paramagnetic nickel(ii)–cysteine heterostructures

Manajit Mandal, Abhik Ghoshal, Ankur Malik and Prakash Chandra Mondal

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2025, Advance Article

A twist in the molecular memory function: chemical compositions of different redox couples control the resistive switching bias polarity

Abhik Ghoshal, Rajwinder Kaur, Sanku Sanju, Alok Kumar Singh and Prakash Chandra Mondal

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2025, 13, 7307-7317

“All-organic” electrode materials toward high-performing rigid to flexible supercapacitor devices

Pradeep Sachan, Priyanka Makkar, Ankur Malik and Prakash Chandra Mondal

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2024, 12, 13639-13650

Novel materials and devices for photon and ionizing radiation detection (Deadline: 3 October 2025)

We are delighted to announce this open call for papers to contribute to a themed collection for Journal of Materials Chemistry C on Novel materials and devices for photon and ionizing radiation detection, guest edited by Professor Andrea Ciavatti (University of Bologna, Italy), Professor Francesca Cova (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy) and Professor Michele Sessolo (University of Valencia, Spain).

Scope

This themed collection will focus on novel materials and devices for the sensitive detection of photons and for the conversion of high energy ionizing radiation. The focus will be mainly on organic semiconductors and metal halide perovskites, although the themed collection is open to the submission of alternative materials. The topics will be focused on electromagnetic radiation detection beyond the visible range. Novel developments on active materials both for direct detection and for indirect detection (scintillators) will be covered by the themed collection.

Key Topics to be considered:

Growth/synthesis of new materials for radiation sensors:

• Growth methods for perovskite and organic crystals and defect characterization
• Nanoparticle and polycrystalline perovskite and organic films
• Fabrication of hybrid and meta-materials

Materials and devices characterization:

• UV and high energy photon detection
• NIR photon detection
• Noise and defects in advanced detectors
• Materials for neutron and charge particles detection
• Scintillators for fast timing detection and imaging
• Interaction of nanomaterials and nanocomposites with ionizing radiation from fundamental to applied perspectives
• Long-term stability, environmental effects and radiation hardness

Submit to the themed collection

Please consider contributing to this open call for papers for our upcoming themed collection on Novel materials and devices for photon and ionizing radiation detection to be published in Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

Submissions should fit within the scope of Journal of Materials Chemistry C. Please see the journal’s website for more information on the journal’s scope, standards, article types and author guidelines.

This call for papers is open for the following article types:

• Communications
• Full papers

Open for Submissions until 3 October 2025

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly to the online submission service for Journal of Materials Chemistry C. Please mention that this submission is a contribution to the Novel materials and devices for photon and ionizing radiation detection collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and add a “Note to the Editor” that this is from the Open Call. The Editorial Office reserves the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of both the journal and the collection, and inclusion of accepted articles in the final themed issue is not guaranteed.

Please also note that all submissions will be subject to initial assessment and rigorous peer review to meet the usual high standards of Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

Meet the Guest Editors

Professor Andrea Ciavatti (University of Bologna, Italy)

Andrea Ciavatti received M.Sc. Degree in Physics (2010) and the Ph.D in Physics (2015) at the University of Bologna, with a thesis on Transport Properties and Novel Sensing Applications of Organic Semiconducting Crystals. He was Visiting Scientist at University of Surrey (UK) focusing on the direct detection of X-rays, alpha particles and neutrons (2013) and at ETH (Zurich) investigating the charge carrier transport in OTFTs (2014). In 2017 he moved at NEST Laboratory (Pisa, IT) working on THz quantum cascade lasers. From 2020 he is Technical Manager and Adjunct Professor at the Advanced Sensing Laboratory (OPH) of the Department of Physics and Astronomy (DIFA). He is an associate of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN).

His research focuses on the electrical and photonic characterization of advanced materials and devices: flexible and large-area sensors for ionizing radiation based on organic and hybrid perovskite materials. He is currently involved in research projects aimed at monitoring ionizing radiation exposure in medical and space applications.

Professor Francesca Cova (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy)

Francesca Cova is assistant professor at the Department of Materials Science of the University of Milano – Bicocca (Italy). She graduated in Physics in 2016 and earned her PhD in Materials Science and Nanotechnology in 2020, with a thesis on scintillating optical fibers. She is currently working on the development of the future generation of ionizing radiation detectors. Her research interests focus on new, fast, and radiation hard scintillating materials, with special attention to emerging technologies such as nanostructures and nanocomposites, including quantum dots, perovskites nanocrystals, semiconductor nanoplatelets and metal organic frameworks. Besides, the focus of her research is on the presence of defect-related phenomena, deeply investigated by means of thermally stimulated luminescence spectroscopy, to unveil their role in the scintillation process and their influence on the performance of scintillating materials, in order to guide the optimization of scintillating devices.

Professor Michele Sessolo (University of Valencia, Spain)

Michele Sessolo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Valencia. He obtained his degree in Chemistry from the University of Padova (Italy) in 2006, followed by an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. (2010) from the University of Valencia, for his research on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). He later joined the Department of Bioelectronics at the École des Mines de Saint-Étienne (France) as a Marie Curie Fellow, where he worked on the application of conducting polymers in electrophysiology. In 2016, he was awarded a Ramón y Cajal tenure-track fellowship and joined the Institute for Molecular Science (ICMol) at the University of Valencia. His current research focuses on two main areas: the vapor-phase deposition of perovskite materials for photovoltaic applications, and the development of perovskite-based photodetectors − employing both thin films and monolithic materials − for the detection of visible and ionizing radiation.

Congratulations to the prize winners at Ferroelectrics UK and Ireland 2025, sponsored by the materials and nano journals of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Best oral presentation: sponsored by Materials Horizons

Adrian Savovici, Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials

Adrian Savovici is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials in Düsseldorf, DE. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA working on Order/Disorder phase transformations in ferromagnetic binary alloys. He is primarily interested in solving basic science problems in ferroic materials, with an emphasis on advanced characterization techniques in electron microscopy. His current aim is to further expand the polar metals field.

Best poster: sponsored by Nanoscale Horizons, Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances

Guilherme Selicani, Technical University of Denmark / University of Bath

Guilherme obtained both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, in mechatronics and mechanical engineering, respectively. He is currently a PhD student at the Technical University of Denmark, focusing on applications of computational modelling of complex-shaped ferroelectric ceramics. He was recently awarded the poster presentation prize from Nanoscale Horizons at the Ferroelectrics UK and Ireland 2025 conference in Bath, UK. This award is sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Best industrially related project: sponsored by Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C

Sakineh Fotouhi, University of the West of England

Dr. Sakineh Fotouhi is currently an assistant professor in Smart Materials and Structures at the University of the West of England Bristol. Before joining UWE Bristol, Sakineh had been working on an ambitious project supported by the US Office of Naval Research, in collaboration at the University of Glasgow as a postdoctoral researcher. The research focuses on the characterisation of piezoelectric materials using AI and a single miniature sample, an approach that addresses a significant challenge in the field. Building on this research, Sakineh has been awarded an EPSRC Impact Acceleration grant to collaborate with CeramTec, a leading global supplier of piezoelectric materials based in Germany. This partnership aims to enhance CeramTec’s characterisation processes using the AI-based method developed during her time at Glasgow. Preliminary findings were presented at the Ferroelectrics UK and Ireland 2025 conference (1–2 May), where the project was awarded the Best Industrially Related Project prize on behalf of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Sakineh is now passionate and focused on expanding her research and strengthening academic and industrial collaborations to support both suppliers and users in the field of piezoelectrics.

EES Solar and Journal of Materials Chemistry A were proud to support Symposium D of E-MRS Spring 2025 with poster prizes. The Symposium focused on Next-Generation Solar Technologies: unconventional materials and sustainable innovations for photovoltaic, photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic systems. The organisers included: Francesco Lamberti, Francesca de Rossi, Luigi Angelo Castriotta, Matteo Bonomo, Salvador Eslava and Teresa Gatti (seen in the image below).

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The winner of the Journal of Materials Chemistry A poster prize was Kun Woong Lee (Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea) with the poster titled: A Study on VO2 Protective Layer Deposition and Defect Inactivation of BiVO4 Photoelectrodes via Photoelectrochemical Transition Metal Engineering.

I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea. My research focuses on developing high-performance BiVO4 photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting. I am truly honored to have received the poster prize at this E-MRS meeting.

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The winner of the EES Solar poster prize was Sunwoo Kim (Kyungpook National University, Republic of Korea) with the poster titled: Grain Boundary Passivation for Wide Bandgap Sub-cell of Perovskite Tandem Solar cells using Inorganic Potassium Lead Halide.

I am currently pursuing an integrated M.S.-Ph.D. program in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Kyungpook National University, South Korea, where I also completed my bachelor’s degree. My research focuses on next-generation high-efficiency and high-stability perovskite tandem solar cells. I am passionate about advancing sustainable photovoltaic technologies through innovative materials and device engineering.

Congratulations to these poster prize winners at Symposium D of E-MRS Spring 2025!