Insights from the authors of a highly cited Materials Advances article

26 Sep 2023

By Serra Arslancan Sengelen, Assistant Editor.

Nanomaterials: a review of synthesis methods, properties, recent progress, and challenges has been one of the most highly cited articles published in Materials Advances so far. The authors have recently answered our questions, and in this blog, we are sharing the insights from our interview with them. We congratulate the authors on their impactful work and wish them success in their future academic research.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

Access to clean water is a growing global issue. A recent report by UNESCO reveals that 2 billion individuals do not have access to safe drinking water. Furthermore, the region where we reside (Saudi Arabia) has already declared a water-stress region. We are designing advanced membranes for desalination and water reuse, which may contribute to meeting global and regional demand in the future. Our research group is developing next-generation membranes using 2D materials. The 2D materials we use can be divided into two classes specifically for membrane applications. The first class has ordered pores, such as COFs and 2D MOFs, whereas the other type is intrinsically non-porous, such as graphene, MXenes, and TMDs. Our research group is working on tuning the interlayer distance of the non-porous 2D sheets to control the permeability and selectivity of these membranes according to the desired applications. We believe that the tunability of the 2D membranes makes them unique compared to the state-of-the-art commercialized polymeric membranes.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

Fouling remains a significant challenge in the implementation of membrane-based technology. Therefore, most of the industries still have not adopted membrane-based technology. 2D materials-based membranes look promising at the lab scale to develop antifouling membranes, but their processability and scalability would be challenging. Our research group is currently working on a lab scale at IRC-Membranes Water Security, KFUPM, but we are planning and working to bring them from the lab scale to the market.

What does it mean to you to have a highly cited article?

It is a gratifying experience for a researcher to receive recognition for his work from their peers in the same field.

How do you feel about Materials Advances as a place to publish research on this topic?

Materials Advances has emerged as a prestigious journal of the Materials family. Material Advances platform provides a distinctive opportunity for researchers to publish their latest findings in materials science. Due to its high-quality publications, this journal has become a hub of material science progress and knowledge.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

I advise early career researchers to identify global problems and research gaps and put their best efforts into solving them to become impactful. Do the brainstorming by What, why, and how. What is the problem, why is it, and how can it be solved? Keep pushing towards your goals and dreams, overcoming obstacles and challenges, until you can look back proudly on your journey.

Meet the authors

Dr Nadeem Baig is a Research Scientist III (Assistant Professor) at IRC-Membrane and Water Security, KFUPM. He obtained his BS (Hons.) from the University of the Punjab in 2008 and his MPhil from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore in 2012. He obtained his Ph.D. from KFUPM, Saudi Arabia, in 2017. Dr Baig joined the Center of Research Excellence in Desalination & Water Treatment at KFUPM in 2020 after working as a two-year postdoctoral researcher. His research is focused on developing next-generation membranes utilizing 2D materials, including graphene, MXene, TMDs, 2D MOFs, and COFs for oil/water separation, desalination, water reuse, and recovering precious metals. His interests also include developing nanostructured materials and super-selective surfaces for energy and environmental applications. He has received several distinguished awards. So far, Dr Baig has obtained 10 US patents. Dr Baig received the prestigious Early Career Research Award at KFUPM in 2022. His name was also included among the top 2% of scientists worldwide in the discipline of Chemistry.

Dr Irshad Kammakakam is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan. Dr Kammakakam received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Incheon National University, South Korea. His research focused on developing advanced organic porous materials and functional polymeric membranes for energy-saving separation technology and environmental green energy applications. Before joining Nazarbayev University, Dr Kammakakam was a Research Scientist at the Advanced Materials Chemistry Center, Khalifa University, UAE. He also worked as a Visiting Scientist at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea). He completed multiple Postdocs at the European Institute of Membranes (France), the University of Alabama (USA), and the KAUST (Saudi Arabia). Dr Kammakakam broadly works to design and synthesize ionic polymers for molecular separation membranes and energy storage applications. Dr Kammakakam has bagged many awards and achievements, including the recipient of the 2020 Future Faculty Mentoring Program sponsored by the EdDiv of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Dr Wail Sulaiman Falath is the Dean of the College of General Studies and an Assistant Professor at the Materials Science and Engineering Department of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals. Dr Falath has a Ph.D. degree in Polymers, Textiles, and Fibers Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. His Ph.D. was related to fabricating polymeric mixed matrix membranes for Reverse Osmosis water desalination. Dr Falath’s research is focused on the environment, synthesis of membranes for water desalination, and surface modifications and characterization of several materials.

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C 10th Anniversary Community Spotlight: Dedicated Authors

25 Sep 2023

By Natalie Cotterell, Development Editor.

This year we are pleased to celebrate 10 years since Journal of Materials Chemistry was split into three respective journals: Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C, each focusing on a different aspect of materials chemistry. We are grateful to our fantastic community of authors, reviewers, Board members and readers and wanted to showcase just some of them in a series of ‘Community Spotlight’ blog articles.

Next in our ‘Community Spotlight’ series, we feature some more of our dedicated authors who have supported Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B or C by publishing regularly with us over the years. Check out their interview responses below to find out what they like about publishing with the Journal of Materials Chemistry family and how their work has evolved since their first JMC publication.

Professor Eli Zysman-Colman

Eli Zysman-Colman obtained his Ph.D. from McGill University in 2003 under the supervision of Prof. David N. Harpp as an FCAR scholar, conducting research in physical organic sulfur chemistry. He then completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one in supramolecular chemistry with Prof. Jay Siegel at the Organic Chemistry Institute, University of Zurich as an FQRNT fellow and the other in inorganic materials chemistry with Prof. Stefan Bernhard at Princeton University as a PCCM fellow. He joined the department of chemistry at the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada as an assistant professor in 2007. In 2013, he moved to the University of St Andrews in St Andrews, UK, where he is presently Professor of Optoelectronic Materials, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a past holder of a Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship. His research program focuses on the rational design of: (I) luminophores for energy-efficient visual displays and flat panel lighting based on organic light emitting diode (OLED) and light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEEC) device architectures; (II) sensing materials employed in electrochemiluminescence; and (III) photocatalyst developing for use in organic reactions.

How has your research evolved from your first Journal of Materials Chemistry C article to your most recent publication in the journal?

I published my first J. Mater. Chem. C paper a decade ago in 2013 (10.1039/C3TC31307G). At the time, my research group was strongly focussed on the development of blue-emissive cationic iridium(III) complexes for use in light-emitting electrochemical cells. This particular study illustrated our design strategy for using triazole-based ligands about the iridium centre. Since that first paper, my group’s research interests have evolved, where we now focus considerable energy on the design and development of organic thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters for organic light-emitting diodes. In our latest publication in J. Mater. Chem. C (10.1039/D3TC02352D), my 16th in this journal, we studied the effect of nitrogen atom incorporation into orange-to-red donor-acceptor TADF emitters on their photo physical properties and their performance in OLEDs.

What made you decide to keep publishing your work with the journal over the past years?

I have found J. Mater. Chem. C to be the ideal journal to spotlight our work on photoactive materials design. The quality of the articles, complemented by an excellent editorial and reviewing process, I have always found to be excellent. I like to support RSC journals in general, given their mandate to benefit the wider chemistry community.

Professor Akon Higuchi

Akon Higuchi is an Advisory Board member for Journal of Materials Chemistry B. He received his PhD from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1985. He was associate and full professor at Seikei University (Tokyo) until 2007. Since 2007, he became a Chair Professor at National Central University (Taiwan). He is also a visiting professor in Wenzhou Medical University. His current interests involve generation of universal human induced pluripotent stem cells, differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells on specific biomaterials, and preparation and application of lipid nanoparticles entrapped with mRNA. He is a fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and Taiwan Chemical Engineering Society. He was awarded the Sofue Memorial Award (1994), Seikei Academic Award (2003), Nanotechnology Outstanding Contribution Award (NSC, 2013), Gold Medal Award of 2021 Taiwan Innotech Expo Invention Contest (2021), and Outstanding Scientific Award of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society, Asia Pacific region (TERMIS-AP, 2021).

What do you like most about Journal of Materials Chemistry B as a place to publish your latest materials chemistry research?

JMC B is one of the top journals in the fields of biomaterial science and chemistry. Editors and reviewers in JMC B are high quality researchers. Therefore, my manuscripts are evaluated very fairly. The comments by reviewers and editors are very useful for my future research.

What made you decide to keep publishing your work with the journal over the past years?

I had a great influence and an impact from my previous supervisor in England (Dr RFP Stepto, UMIST). He respected RSC. Therefore, it was my honor for me to publish my research in RSC journals starting from Faraday from my young carrier. Now my research mainly focuses on biomaterials and therefore, I keep publishing my research in JMC B.

Professor Tharamani Nagaiah

Tharamani C. Nagaiah is an Associate Professor and Head, Department of Chemistry at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar. She holds a PhD degree from Bangalore University and completed postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Saskatchewan, Canada and AvH postdoctoral fellowship at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Her research interests include design and development of various carbonaceous materials, nanomaterials, molecular catalyst with focus on energy conversion and storage, biosensors and in-depth fundamental analysis of the newly designed electrocatalysts towards fuel cells and batteries by various electrochemical, spectroscopic, microscopic and scanning probe techniques (SECM). She is a recipient of several prestigious fellowships like Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship, Germany and Ramanujan Fellowship by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) admitted through the “Leaders in the field” scheme as an emerging talent in India and also an elected Fellow of Indian Chemical Society. She is a recipient of CRSI-Bronze Medal 2023 from the Chemical Research Society of India and Silver Medal of CRS 2023 from the society Chirantan Rasayan Sanstha, recently she has been awarded the ECSI Metrohm National Award 2023 from Electrochemical Society of India, A.V. Rama Rao prize for Women 2024 from Chemical Research Society of India. She is an Editorial Board Member of the Journal Electrocatalysis.

What made you decide to keep publishing your work with the journal over the past years?

I am very selective in submitting manuscript to journals. Journal of Materials Chemistry A is one among them which publishes high quality and cutting-edge research articles in the field of Materials Chemistry and Energy. Our work is well aligned with the scope of the journal and being published/publishing in Journal of Materials Chemistry A defines the quality of our work. Thanks to the referees for the constructive and valuable feedback on the work which has always helped us in shaping up the quality of our published articles.

Which of your Journal of Materials Chemistry A publications would you say you are most proud of and why?

I am proud of all my research articles published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A, since each article has a different concept and novelty. However, the work on “Nitrogen containing carbon spheres as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction:Microelectrochemical investigation and visualization” is very special one. This work focused on the development of oxygen reduction reaction catalyst and its selectivity to H₂O conversion was studied in depth by microelectrochemical approach using ultra-micro-electrode. This is my first publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry A as an independent researcher. Therefore it is very special to me and I am very proud of this work.

Professor Jie Zheng

Jie Zheng is a Professor of Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering at the University of Akron. He earned his PhD from the University of Washington in 2005 and subsequently conducted 2-years postgraduate studies at the National Cancer Institute, NIH. He then joined the University of Akron since 2007. His research lab specializes in the development of advanced bio-inspired, bio-functional, and bio-mimetic soft materials for engineering and biomedical applications by combining machine-learning models, molecular simulations, and bio-related experiments. Zheng has received prestigious accolades throughout his career, including the NSF CAREER Award (2010), 3M Non-Tenure Faculty Award (2008), and Anton Award from the National Resource for Biomedical Supercomputing (2010), and has also been recognized multiple times as Top 2% of researchers worldwide in the field of Chemical Engineering and was elected an fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry in 2023. Zheng is author of 280+ journal papers, with a total citation of 20000+ times and an h-index of 75.

What made you decide to keep publishing your work with the journal over the past years?

Over the years, my decision to continue publishing our work in the Journal of Materials Chemistry (JMC) has been driven by a series of significant milestones and a profound sense of belonging to the journal scientific community. It all began in 2014 when JMC expanded to three companion journals. We started on this journey by publishing our first paper in JMCB, which was chosen for the journal’s cover page, spotlighting our research on antifouling materials. Since then, we have published 31 papers in the JMC family, with 10 papers in JMCB, 6 invited reviews, 19 cover features, and 8 hot papers. These publications have predominantly focused on our research on amyloid diseases, smart hydrogels, and biomaterials. What truly sets JMC apart for me is the remarkable growth I have witnessed in our research journey alongside this journal. In 2017, I joined the Advisory Board of JMC B, where I have seen the journal commitment to accelerating scientific dissemination through a rigorous and equitable review process. Additionally, their dedication to recognizing and nurturing young, talented investigators is commendable. I strongly believe that the JMC family will persist as the flagship journals for disseminating high-impact research to the global scientific community.

How has your research evolved from your first Journal of Materials Chemistry B article to your most recent publication in the journal?

Our research has evolved significantly since our first publication in the Journal of Materials Chemistry B (DOI: 10.1039/c4tb00253a) in 2014, which focused on the binding properties of PEG antifouling materials and proteins, earning a place on the JMCB cover page. Subsequently, we expanded our research from antifouling materials to smart functional polymers and hydrogels. These materials were designed and synthesized to possess high mechanical properties and a wide range of functionalities, including self-recovery, self-healing, biocompatibility, mechanoresponse, freezing tolerance, conductivity, and interfacial adhesion, tailored for diverse applications. Moreover, our research has stretched even further, encompassing the investigation of native disease-related amyloid proteins linked to various neurodegenerative diseases. We combine a variety of biophysical techniques and computational approaches to examine the molecular mechanisms of protein misfolding, aggregation, and toxicity, design and discover novel molecules serving as amyloid inhibitors, develop multi-targeting biosensors for detecting amyloid proteins, and investigate the molecular links and spreading mechanisms between different diseases. Our findings have been published and highlighted in the JMC journal family, a testament to the growth and evolution of both our research and the JMC journal community.

Professor Paolo Samorì

Prof. Paolo Samorì is Distinguished Professor at the Université de Strasbourg, Director of the Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS) and Director of the Nanochemistry Laboratory and he is Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). He has obtained a Laurea (master’s degree) in Industrial Chemistry at University of Bologna in 1995. In 2000, he has received his PhD in Chemistry from the Humboldt University of Berlin (Prof. J. P. Rabe). He has been permanent research scientist at Istituto per la Sintesi Organica e la Fotoreattività of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Bologna from 2001 to 2008 and Visiting Professor at ISIS from 2003 to 2008. He has published 440+ papers on nanochemistry, supramolecular sciences, materials chemistry, and scanning probe microscopies with a specific focus on graphene and other 2D materials as well as functional organic/polymeric and hybrid nanomaterials for application in optoelectronics, energy and sensing.

What do you like most about Journal of Materials Chemistry C as a place to publish your latest materials chemistry research?

It is a perfect outlet where interdisciplinary works are published since it covers the broadest spectra from the making of innovative materials, to their multiscale characterization, to their application via the development of high-performance devices. By covering such a widest field of chemistry it has been instrumental to the interdisciplinary realm of materials science that has witnessed major steps forward during the last three decades.

How has your research evolved from your first Journal of Materials Chemistry C article to your most recent publication in the journal?

Materials chemistry has shaped itself over the years as a technologically relevant discipline by tackling the major challenge of enhancing the chemical and structural complexity of materials to reach more sophisticated and reliable functions. The chemical approach to materials science has indeed been key to trace such a relevant path.

Thank you to our dedicated authors for their support in publishing regularly with the Journal of Materials Chemistry family of journals over the years.

We hope you enjoyed finding out more about just some of our dedicated authors. Keep an eye out for our next ‘Community Spotlight’!

If you missed any of our previous ‘Community Spotlight’ blog posts, check them all out here.

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Celebrating materials science in Germany

18 Sep 2023

By Rosie Hague, Editorial Assistant.

New region spotlight in Materials Advances

Over the years, Materials Advances has published quality research across the breadth of materials science and our German authors and readers remain a core part of the journal community.

To showcase some of the great research being carried out in the country we have selected some of the most popular articles from authors across Germany. A small selection are highlighted in this blog post, but click the button below to read the full collection. All articles are gold open access so they are free to read.

Redox-active, porous pyrene tetraone dendritic polymers as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries
Lucas Ueberricke, Felix Mildner, Yuquan Wu, Elisa Thauer, Tom Wickenhäuser, Wen-Shan Zhang, Yana Vaynzof, Sven M. Elbert, Rasmus R. Schröder, Rüdiger Klingeler and Michael Mastalerz
Mater. Adv., 2023, 4, 1604-1611

Research output software for energetic materials based on observational modelling 2.1 (RoseBoom2.1 (c))
Sabrina Wahler and Thomas M. Klapötke
Mater. Adv., 2022, 3, 7976-7986

Stimuli-responsive one-dimensional photonic crystals: design, fabrication and sensing
Marie Däntl, Alberto Jiménez-Solano and Bettina V. Lotsch
Mater. Adv., 2022, 3, 7406-7424

Materials Advances is pleased to have some prominent members of the materials science community acting as Associate Editors and as Advisory Board Members:

Miriam Unterlass (University of Konstanz)
Yana Vaynzof (Technical University of Dresden)
Helmut Cölfen (University of Konstanz)
Xinliang Feng (Technical University of Dresden)
Anna Köhler (University of Bayreuth)
Ulrike Kramm (TU Darmstadt)
Bettina Lotsch (Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart)
Patrick Théato (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

The Royal Society of Chemistry has arranged Read and Publish agreements with many German institutes. As part of these agreements you may be entitled to publish your research gold open access at no cost. Get in touch to find out more and find out if your institute is covered here.

Thank you again to all for your support and looking forward to the exciting milestones ahead for Materials Advances!

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Open Call for Papers: Advancements in Synthesis of High-Performance Materials from Nature’s Building Blocks

15 Sep 2023

By Dr Zifei Lu, Assistant Editor.

Materials Advances is delighted to announce an open call for papers to our new themed collection focussing on the synthesis of high performance materials from natural building blocks!

Promotional graphic for open call for paper for Advancements in Synthesis of High-Performance Materials from Nature's Building Blocks, with profile pictures of guest editors Samantha L. Kristufek and Eleftheria Roumeli included, from left to right.

Guest Editors: Samantha L. Kristufek (Texas Tech University, USA) and Eleftheria Roumeli (University of Washington, USA)

The goal of this themed collection is to bring together contributions concerned with the most recent advances in constructing high performance sustainable materials using natural materials. Topics include, but are not limited to:

Design and synthesis of natural product-based polymers
Use of biomass in high performance materials
SynBio or engineered proteins towards high performance materials
Formation of sustainable concrete
Scalability of the synthesis of natural product-based monomers and/or polymers
Extraction and processing methods of bio-based starting materials
LCA or TEA of novel materials from natural products
Novel and circular approaches to materials from natural products

You are welcome to submit an article within the scope before 1 December 2023.

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

Please note that accepted manuscripts will be subject to an article-processing charge (APC) unless your institute has an existing agreement with the RSC that covers publications in our gold open access journals. More information about charges, discounts, and waivers are available here. Corresponding authors who are not already members of the Royal Society of Chemistry are entitled to one year’s Affiliate membership as part of their APC. Find out more about our member benefits.

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Themed Collection in Materials Advances: Advanced functional materials and manufacturing processes

13 Sep 2023

By Dr Zifei Lu, Assistant Editor.

Advanced functional materials and manufacturing processes

Guest edited by Jessica O. Winter, Jawwad A. Darr and John Wang

Materials Advances is delighted to introduce our latest themed collection on the latest developments in advanced inorganic functional materials (synthesis, modelling and simulation), novel manufacturing processes including scale up approaches, and property evaluation and optimization.

You can explore the collection and read the introductory editorial from our guest editors below. Articles in the collection are published in Materials Advances so they are all open access and freely available.

Read the collection

Read the introductory editorial

Read some of the featured articles below.

Synthesis, structure and electrochemical properties of a new cation ordered layered Li–Ni–Mg–Mo oxide
Bo Dong, Javier Castells-Gil, Pengcheng Zhu, Laura L. Driscoll, Emma Kendrick, Phoebe K. Allan and Peter R. Slater
Mater. Adv., 2023, 4, 1021-1029 DOI: 10.1039/d2ma00981a

Recent advancement in nanomaterial-encapsulated drug delivery vehicles for combating cancer, COVID-19, and HIV-like chronic diseases
Suparna Paul, Subhajit Mukherjee and Priyabrata Banerjee
Mater. Adv., 2023, 4, 2042-2061 DOI: 10.1039/d2ma01075e

Additively manufactured thermosetting elastomer composites: small changes in resin formulation lead to large changes in mechanical and viscoelastic properties
Ye Wang, Ian M. McAninch, Antoine P. Delarue, Christopher J. Hansen, E. Jason Robinette and Amy M. Peterson
Mater. Adv., 2023, 4, 607-615 DOI: 10.1039/d2ma00892k

Materials Advances is always interested in considering high-quality articles on advanced functional materials and their manufacturing processes and we would be delighted if you would consider the journals for your next submission, which can be made via the Materials Advances online submission service. All submissions will be subject to initial assessment and peer review as appropriate according to the journals’ guidelines.

We hope you enjoy reading this collection and we look forward to seeing how this field progresses! Please continue to submit your exciting work on advanced functional materials to Materials Advances.

Do you have an idea for our next themed collection? Suggest a topic using our online form.

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Materials Advances 2022 Paper Prize winner

11 Sep 2023

By Hannah Kerr, Deputy Editor.

Find out more about the winning paper in this infographic

Facet-dependent carrier dynamics of cuprous oxide regulating the photocatalytic hydrogen generation
Cui Ying Toe, Marlene Lamers, Thomas Dittrich, Hassan A. Tahini, Sean C. Smith, Jason Scott, Rose Amal, Roel van de Krol, Fatwa F. Abdi and Yun Hau Ng

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Materials Advances 2022 Paper Prize runner-up 2

11 Sep 2023

By Hannah Kerr, Deputy Editor.

Find out more about the winning paper in this infographic

Metal-free polypeptide redox flow batteries
Zhiming Liang, Tan P. Nguyen, N. Harsha Attanayake, Alexandra D. Easley, Jodie L. Lutkenhaus, Karen L. Wooley and Susan A. Odom

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Materials Advances 2022 Paper Prize runner-up

11 Sep 2023

By Hannah Kerr, Deputy Editor.

Meet the authors and find out more about their research

White light emission generated by two stacking patterns of a single organic molecular crystal
Yuma Nakagawa, Kuon Kinoshita, Megumi Kasuno, Ryo Nishimura, Masakazu Morimoto, Satoshi Yokojima, Makoto Hatakeyama, Yuki Sakamoto, Shinichiro Nakamura and Kingo Uchida

Meet the authors

	Yuma Nakagawa received his B.S. (2018), M.S. (2020), and Ph.D. (2023) degrees from Ryukoku University. He has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Molecular Engineering Institute, Shiga University of Medical Science since 2023. His current interests are development of organic functional materials and their applications.
	Kuon Kinoshita received bachelor’s degree in science and technology from Ryukoku University, Japan, in 2019 and completed master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Nottingham Trent University, UK, in 2021.
	Megumi Kasuno received her Ph D. from Kyoto Institute of Technology in 2005. She was engaged in National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and moved to the present address at Ryokoku University in 2006.
	Ryo Nishimura received his Ph. D. (2020) from Ryukoku University under the supervision of Professor Kingo Uchida. He has been working as a JSPS Young Research Fellow (PD) at Ryukoku University. From 2021, he has been working at Rikkyo University as an assistant professor.
	Masakazu Morimoto received his B.S. (2001), M.S. (2003), and Ph.D. (2006) degrees from Kyushu University. Then, he engaged as a postdoctoral researcher at the Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University. In 2007, he moved to the Department of Chemistry, Rikkyo University, as an assistant professor. He was appointed as an associate professor at the same university in 2010 and was promoted to a full professor in 2017. His research interests include the development of advanced photofunctional molecules and materials.
	Satoshi Yokojima studied physics at Keio University. After receiving PhD in 1995, he worked on optical response at University of Rochester. In 1997, he moved to University of Hong Kong and developed a method for linear scaling. After working on dissipative systems, he moved to University of Tsukuba and studied a charge transfer in DNA. He then moved to Mitsubishi Chemical in 2005 and worked on photochromic systems. He moved to Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences in 2011 and promoted to Professor in 2016. His current interests are photochemistry, computational chemistry, and biophysics.
	Makoto Hatakeyama obtained his undergraduate Bachelor and Masters degrees at the Yokohama City University in 2007 and 2009, respectively. He completed his PhD degree in 2012 at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in the group of Prof. Shinichiro Nakamura. He then undertook post-doctoral research at the RIKEN Research Cluster for Innovation. In 2018, he was appointed as a Lecturer at the Sanyo-Onoda City University. His research interests involve the quantum chemistry, molecular photophysics, and photoprotection mechanisms in biologically related molecules.
	Yuki Sakamoto received his Ph.D. from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2018. He studies functional molecules and catalysts using theoretical calculations.
	After Ph.D. in 1984 at Universite de Strasbourg, France, Shinichiro Nakamura started industrial Computational Science in Mitsubishi Chemical Research Center for 26 years. Then, he moved to RIKEN 2011~2022, the focus is on the mechanism of natural photosynthesis. In 2022, he moved to Kumamoto University. The central subject of his research is the design of industrial photonic materials as well as studies on data science.
	Kingo Uchida received his Ph.D. from Kyushu University in 1996. He was promoted to Professor in 2002. His recent interests lie in development of photoresponsive surfaces, and biological applications.

(a) What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

We are surprised to see the white fluorescence from ordered molecular packing in the crystalline state. Photochromic diarylethenes are well-known compounds, and many papers were already published, however the oxidized derivative showed unexpected results. Studying a compound from many view points is challenging.

(b) How do you feel about Materials Advances as a place to publish research on this topic?

Materials Advances is an international gold open access journal, which makes our results freely available to a large audience of readers. This provides a very significant environment for scientists like us.

It is important to develop your original works. Careful watching and deep consideration of the results sometimes induce serendipity.

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Open call for papers: ‘Perovskites: from materials science to devices’

08 Sep 2023

By Rose Wedgbury Ph.D., Development Editor.

Journal of Materials Chemistry C is pleased to announce an open call for papers to contribute to our upcoming collection titled ‘Perovskites: from materials science to devices’

A perovskite name is applied to the class of compounds which have the same type of crystal structure as CaTiO₃ discovered in Ural mountains in 1839 by Gustav Rose. The ABX₃ perovskite structure can accommodate a wide variety of different cations and anions. Depending on the chemical composition it can exhibit extremely different properties such like colossal magnetoresistance, ferroelectricity, superconductivity, light absorption, charge ordering, spin dependent transport, high thermopower, to name a few. Thanks to that, a variety of different devices can be constructed using this crystal structure.

For this themed collection we invite original manuscripts related to all aspects of the cutting-edge innovations in the development of organic, inorganic and/or hybrid perovskite materials and devices with the focus on potential applications in memories, solar cells, sensors, catalyst electrodes and superconducting ceramic materials.

Guest Edited by:

Dr Małgorzata Kot

Brandenburg University of Technology

Dr Małgorzata Kot, originally from Poland, received her doctorate degree from Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (Germany) in Science (Dr.rer.nat.) in 2014. Since 2011, she utilizes advanced laboratory- and synchrotron-based photoelectron spectroscopy methods to understand the chemical and electronic properties of different materials in-situ, ex-situ and in-operando, and to monitor their interactions with X-rays, light and gases towards applications in photovoltaic and sensor devices. Current focus of her research is devoted to improve the perovskite solar cells efficiency and stability, in particular, by atomic layer deposited ultrathin films.

Dr Chittaranjan Das

University of Stuttgart

Chittaranjan Das earned his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany, in 2015. His research focuses on advancing thin-film technology for various applications in renewable energy generation, conversion, and storage. In addition to his core work in thin-film technology, Chittaranjan’s research also delves into the intricate realm of surface and interface physicochemical properties of devices. He employs cutting-edge surface analysis techniques such as X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS), Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to gain valuable insights into the behavior of materials at the atomic and molecular level. Currently, Chittaranjan’s primary research area centers around perovskite photovoltaics and flexible thin-film solar cells, where he strives to develop innovative solutions for harnessing solar energy efficiently.

Dr Clara P. Aranda Alonso

Universidad Pablo de Olavide

Dr Clara Aranda Alonso, received her doctorate degree in Science from University Jaume I in 2019 at the Institute of Advanced Materials (INAM) (Castellón, Spain). She worked as postdoctoral researcher at the Forschungszentrum Jülich and Institute for Photovoltaics (ipv) at the University of Stuttgart (Germany) for two years. Then she moved to the Institute of Materials Science (ICMUV) at the University of Valencia (Spain) as a Margarita Salas fellow and currently she is working at Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville (Spain). Her work is focused on the synthesis and characterization of perovskite materials, both in thin film and single crystal configuration, for photoconversion devices, including impedance spectroscopy as the main characterization tool.

Professor Daniel Prochowicz

Polish Academy of Sciences

Daniel Prochowicz earned his Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the Warsaw University of Technology in 2013. Currently, he is working as an Associate Professor at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS, Warsaw), where he serves as head of “Semiconducting Materials and Optoelectronic Devices” research group. His current research interests are in the development of efficient procedures for the preparation of stable and efficient perovskite-based optoelectronic devices including solar cells and photodetectors.

Open for Submissions until 6^th February 2024

Submissions to the journal should contain chemistry in a materials context and 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.

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, please submit your article directly through the Journal of Materials Chemistry C submission service. Please mention that your submission is a contribution to the ‘Perovskites: from materials science to devices’ collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and add a “Note to the Editor” that this is from the Open Call.

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Journal of Materials Chemistry 10th Anniversary Cover Showcase – September

06 Sep 2023

By Daniel Smith.

This year, as you may know, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B, and C are celebrating their 10th anniversary! To join in the celebrations, we’ve asked authors to find creative ways to add a ’10’ to the cover artwork and are excited to show you the results in our monthly cover showcase.

To join in the celebration, you can view the #JMCs10Years hashtag on Twitter and follow the posts for the year so far.

Here are this month’s covers: