Open call for papers: Flexible electrode materials

21 Nov 2023

Journal of Materials Chemistry A, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, is pleased to announce an open call for papers for our upcoming themed collection on:

Design and characterization of flexible electrode materials

This collection will be Guest Edited by:

Professor Xiu Song (George) Zhao, Qingdao University

Professor Hui Ying Yang, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore

Professor Li Qiang, Qingdao University, China

Scope of the collection

The design and characterization of flexible electrode materials, situated at the confluence of materials chemistry and engineering, holds pivotal significance for society. Through tailoring composition, structure, and mechanical properties, these materials optimize performance and adaptability in flexible electronics. This bears remarkable implications: from wearable health monitors to sustainable energy solutions. The historical trajectory highlights an evolution from rigid electrodes to innovative materials like conductive polymers, carbon nanotubes, and graphene. This progression, propelled by a nuanced understanding of materials chemistry, enables precise manipulation of materials properties.

The field’s connection with materials chemistry lies in its ability to engineer molecular structures, surface attributes, and interfacial interactions to fine-tune conductivity, electrochemical performance, and mechanical resilience. This harmony between chemistry and engineering ensures materials not only exhibit exceptional traits but also endure real-world demands. This dynamic interplay of science and engineering catalyzes wearable tech, energy storage, and beyond, showcasing the transformative potential of materials chemistry in reshaping technology and enhancing human life.

How to contribute

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

Communications
Full papers

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly through the journal’s online submission service at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jmchema. Please add a “note to the editor” in the submission form when uploading your files to say that this is a contribution to the themed collection in response to the open call.

The Editorial Office reserves the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of the collection, and inclusion of accepted articles in the final themed collection is not guaranteed.

We look forward to considering your submission and featuring your latest research in this themed collection!

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C 10th Anniversary Community Spotlight: First time authors

10 Nov 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.

In this blog, we spotlight some of our first time authors in Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Journal of Materials Chemistry B and Journal of Materials Chemistry C who have published with us as corresponding authors during the anniversary year, and have had their work appear in our #MyFirstJMCA, #MyFirstJMCB or #MyFirstJMCC collections. We welcome our new community of authors and are pleased that they have chosen to publish with our journals. Find out about what some of them had to say about their experience publishing with the journals for the first time and read their featured work below.

Dr Mohammad Taha

Dr Taha is a multidisciplinary researcher exploring the frontiers of materials science, sustainability, and electronic engineering. With a passion for unravelling the mysteries of phase-changing materials, they strive to apply their findings in exciting fields like photonics, sensors, flexible electronics, and sustainable systems. Driven by the belief that a profound understanding of phenomena can unlock untapped potential, they are dedicated to delivering ground-breaking outcomes in their diverse areas of expertise.

What made you choose Journal of Materials Chemistry A as a place to publish your latest materials chemistry research?

I opted to submit my article to the Journal of Materials Chemistry A for several pertinent reasons. Primarily, I have a penchant for submitting to journals that have consistently served as dependable references during my research endeavours. Being a materials scientist and engineer, I have consistently found the articles in JMCA to be methodologically sound and intellectually stimulating, making it a journal I frequently consult. Furthermore, the journal’s thematic focus on innovative materials in the realms of energy and sustainability aligns seamlessly with both my current work and my envisioned future trajectory in the field.

Could you tell us a bit about your #MyFirstJMCA publication (DOI: 10.1039/D2TA09753B)?

My recent publication delves into the insulator-to-metal phase transition (IMT) observed in vanadium oxide polymorphs and how various structural strains influence it. Notably, the standard IMT behaviour manifests at 68 °C. In our research, we pioneer a dopant-free method to reduce the IMT temperature to approximately 40 °C, facilitating near-room temperature infrared modulation. This is achieved through a twofold approach: by precisely regulating the stoichiometry of the metal oxide to induce intrinsic strains, and by encasing the VO_xparticles in a SiO₂ shell. The disparity in the thermal expansion coefficient between SiO₂ and VO_x exerts sufficient strain on the VO_x, leading to a significant decrease in the IMT temperature.

Read Mohammad’s Journal of Materials Chemistry A article:

Infrared modulation via near-room-temperature phase transitions of vanadium oxides & core–shell composites
Mohammad Taha, Sivacarendran Balendhran, Peter C. Sherrell, Nick Kirkwood, Dingchen Wen, Shifan Wang, Jiajun Meng, James Bullock, Kenneth B. Crozierabe and Len Sciacca
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023,11, 7629-7638

Dr Biswanath Das

Dr. Biswanath Das is a permanent (senior) researcher and group leader at the Department of Organic Chemistry, at Stockholm University. He is an electrochemist with experience in organic-inorganic synthesis, investigation of reaction mechanisms, and electrode fabrication. His major research interest centers around finding efficient and sustainable resources for renewable energy, utilization of carbon dioxide as a C1 feedstock, and PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) remediation. Biswanath earned his bachelor’s (2007, Burdwan University) and master’s (2009, IIT Kanpur) degree in India and moved to Sweden as an Erasmus Mundus Ph.D. student and conducted Ph.D. studies (2009-2013) in Lund University under the supervision of Prof. E. Nordlander on bioinorganic chemistry. Thereafter, he joined Uppsala University as a postdoctoral fellow (2014-2016) and worked on water splitting in the group of Prof. S. Ott and A/Prof. A Thapper. In 2016, he was selected for a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship (ARC affiliated) from the School of Chemistry, UNSW, Australia. During 2016-2020, he worked on carbon dioxide electroreduction and PFAS degradation in the groups of A/Prof. S B Colbran, A/Prof. G E Ball and Prof. N Kumar before joining Stockholm University as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Em. Björn Åkermark in June 2020.

What made you choose Journal of Materials Chemistry A as a place to publish your latest materials chemistry research?

JMCA has a good reputation for publishing research works that are novel and highly important in the field of material chemistry. The articles published in JMCA usually attract a wide audience, which is important for the visibility of the research. We (myself, Assoc. Prof. O. Verho, and Prof. B. Åkermark) did not have any second thoughts while selecting JMCA as a suitable journal for our interesting results.

Could you tell us a bit about your #MyFirstJMCA publication (DOI: 10.1039/D3TA00071K)?

Sustainable production of green hydrogen (through water electrolysis) is one of the most important research areas of this century. This article represents the first example of a bifunctional and electrochemically regenerable molecular electrode that can be used for the unperturbed production of H₂ from water at neutral pH. The special structural design of the electrode and the anchored molecular catalyst result in exciting stability and low overpotential for the electrochemical processes.

Read Biswanath’s Journal of Materials Chemistry A article:

Bifunctional and regenerable molecular electrode for water electrolysis at neutral pH
Biswanath Das, Esteban A. Toledo-Carrillo, Guoqi Li, Jonas Ståhle, Thomas Thersleff, Jianhong Chen, Lin Li, Fei Ye, Adam Slabon, Mats Göthelid, Tsu-Chien Weng, Jodie A. Yuwono, Priyank V. Kumar, Oscar Verho, Markus D. Kärkäs, Joydeep Dutta and Björn Åkermar
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023,11, 13331-13340

Dr Johanna Meyer

Dr. Johanna Meyer is a polymer scientist and a technical and applied chemist specialising in the development of materials for biomedical and technical approaches. After synthesizing and characterizing hydrogels, she continues to design them for various applications ranging from drug delivery and scaffold development to 3D printing of reactors. She received her PhD in 2021 from the Technical Chemistry group led by Prof. Udo Kragl at the University of Rostock (Germany) and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Technical Chemistry at the Leibniz Universität Hannover (Germany).

What made you choose Journal of Materials Chemistry B as a place to publish your latest materials chemistry research?

The RSC journals are run with significant influence of the chemistry community, upholding high editorial standards, refined reviews, and a commitment to promote diversity. The Journal of Material Science B was particularly convincing with its very good selection of publications and its general scope, making it an optimal choice for our work on 3D‑printed drug delivery systems.

What did you like most about the publication process with the journal?

The quality and constructive approach of referees has provided very valuable feedback on the manuscript and has greatly helped to improve the final published paper. I am sincerely grateful to the referees for their expert input and constructive advice.

Read Johanna’s Journal of Materials Chemistry B article:

3D printed and stimulus responsive drug delivery systems based on synthetic polyelectrolyte hydrogels manufactured via digital light processing
Sonja Vaupel, Robert Mau, Selin Kara, Hermann Seitz, Udo Kraglbc and Johanna Meyer
J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023,11, 6547-6559

Dr Shwetharani R.

Dr. Shwetharani R is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Centre for Nano and Material Sciences at Jain Deemed to be University. Dr. Shwetha holds a PhD Degree in Chemistry (Material Sciences) from Jain Deemed to be University. Her research interests includes preparation and property tuning of semiconductor based nanomaterials, 2D materials MoS₂, MoSe₂, perovskite oxynitride/oxysulfide, MPX₃ materials for H₂/O₂evolution and also perovskite QDs property modification (CsPbX₃), with a focus on renewable hydrogen generation and high PLQY perovskite QDs for sensing. She completed her postdoctoral stint at Shinshu University at Japan with the supervision of Prof. Kazunari Domen (2019-2020), as well as at Centre for Nano and Material Sciences at Jain Deemed to be University with the supervision of Prof. R Geetha Balakrishna (2016-2018) and has 7 years of experience in academia. She is passionate about development of new and efficient nanostructured materials for photo/electrochemical hydrogen/oxygen production. She believes in the power of collaboration and knowledge exchange to understand the problem in large scale production of hydrogen through economically viable process such as photocatalysis. She is a recipient of JAUW international fellowship from Japan and also received SERB-TARE project to conduct research with the supervision of Prof. S. Sampath at IISc, Bangalore (2020-2023).

What made you choose Journal of Materials Chemistry C as a place to publish your latest materials chemistry research?

Publishing in an international high standard journal is important in the academic field, JMCC is one such journal. The quality of the research papers are excellent and this inspired me to publish in JMCC.

What did you like most about the publication process with the journal?

The publication process is fast and genuine. The reviewers are well versed in their field and suggest important comments, which drastically improves the quality of the papers. The reviewers won’t compromise on the quality of the paper and will provide comments if the paper is not up to the standards of the journal (I have received such comments before).

Read Shwetharani’s Journal of Materials Chemistry C review:

Recent advances in ecofriendly 2D monoelemental bismuthene as an emerging material for energy, catalysis and biomedical applications
Shwetharani R., Itika Kainthla, Sumanth Dongre S., Laveena D’Souzac and R. Geetha Balakrishna
J. Mater. Chem. C, 2023, 11, 6777-6799

Dr Dillip Panda

Dr. Dillip K. Panda is a Research Assistant Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Clemson University focussing on high-temperature solid-state lithium batteries and the development of various anode, cathode, and electrolyte materials for solid and liquid-based lithium-ion batteries. He obtained his Ph.D. under the tutelage of Prof. Gordon G Wallace, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Dr. Panda then joined Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, Florida as a Postdoctoral Fellow where he worked on supramolecular dyad based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), MOFs, nanomaterials (both organic and Inorganic) and chemical sensors. Then he was a UMEI PISET fellow at the University of Michigan (UMich), where he worked on synthesis, modeling and fabrication and characterization of hybrid organic- inorganic perovskite materials for high efficiency solar-to-electrical energy conversion under Prof. Bartlet and Prof. Maldonado. More than 32 peer-reviewed publications have been published over the course of his career and three separate book chapters. Aside from serving as president of the Clemson University Postdoctoral Association from 2020 to 2022, Dr Panda received the Clemson University Distinguished Postdoctoral Award in 2022. Over the course of his diverse research career, he has developed a passion for establishing and implementing collaborative and interdisciplinary research, which is a challenging task for society’s energy needs.

What made you choose Journal of Materials Chemistry A as a place to publish your latest materials chemistry research?

Considering my field of research (materials and energy), I am very selective about which journals I submit my papers to. Journal of Materials Chemistry A is one of my favorite journals since it always publishes cutting-edge and innovative research related to energy. Journal of Materials Chemistry A reaches a large audience with a diverse background in engineering and science. The reviewers are also critical of the work and ensure it is of high quality with novelty and significant impact on the field during the revision process. We met the scope of the journal and had our work published.

Could you tell us a bit about your #MyFirstJMCA publication (DOI: 10.1039/D3TA01366A)?

I was delighted to see my article published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A, since this article highlights Silicon oxyycarbide’s electrochemical performance as an anode material. Those interested in lithium-ion batteries and other electrochemical applications will find this paper titled ” A review of silicon oxycarbide ceramics as next generation anode materials for lithium-ion batteries and other electrochemical applications” useful for their research. In lithium-ion batteries, silicon oxycarbide ceramics with specific capacities ranging from 200 to 1300 mAh/g are promising anodes and this type of amorphous material can accommodate considerable volumetric strains, unlike crystalline silicon. In this article, we also discuss how SiOC’s electrochemical performance is affected by various factors, and how to overcome these factors. Having my first corresponding author publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry A makes me extremely happy. As such, I am incredibly proud of this work, and it is extremely special to me.

Read Dillip’s Journal of Materials Chemistry A review:

A review of silicon oxycarbide ceramics as next generation anode materials for lithium-ion batteries and other electrochemical applications
Ravindran Sujith, Jella Gangadhar, Michelle Greenough, Rajendra K. Bordiac and Dillip K. Panda
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023, 11, 20324-20348

Thank you to our first time authors for choosing to publish with us!

We hope you enjoyed finding out about some of new community of authors. Keep an eye out for our final Community Spotlight in the series.

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

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Bioceramics 33 RSC Poster Prize winners

08 Nov 2023

By Ashley Mitchinson, Assistant Editor.

Bioceramics 33

RSC Poster Prize Winners

Sponsored by Journal of Materials Chemistry B and Biomaterials Science.

Congratulations to our RSC poster prize winners from the Bioceramics 33 conference in Switzerland!

Winner of the RSC Journal of Materials Chemistry B poster prize:

Selase Torkornoo

Poster Title: “Optimizing Parameters for Atom Probe Tomography Analysis of β-Tricalcium Phosphates.”

Selase Torkornoo is a PhD candidate at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung & RWTH University, advised by Prof. Baptiste Gault, a professor of atomic scale characterization at Imperial College London. She received her B.S. (2015) in Engineering Science with Nanomedicine concentration from University of Virginia in the USA, and M.S. (2018) in materials science & engineering from University of Leeds in the UK. Prior to her PhD, she worked in industry at multiple semiconductor and display equipment companies, developing surface treatments and thin film coatings. Currently, her PhD research focuses on studying the effect of microstructure and chemical impurities on physio-chemical properties of bioactive materials as part of a collaboration with Dr. Marc Bohner from the RMS Foundation. She is undertaking nanoscale analysis using atom probe tomography (APT), a burgeoning nanoscale composition mapping technique.

Winner of the RSC Biomaterials Science poster prize:

Johannes Konrad

Poster Title: “Modification of mineral bone substitutes with bisphosphonates.“

Johannes Konrad is currently a PhD student at the Department for Functional Materials in Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Würzburg, supervised by Prof. Dr. Uwe Gbureck. He completed both his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Functional Materials at the University of Würzburg. At that time, focusing on the long-term deformation behavior of technical plastics. During his PhD, he has primarily researched the interaction mechanisms of pharmaceutical agents with mineral bone cements for their application as pharmacologically active bone substitutes.

We are delighted to celebrate the successes of early careers researchers and would like to also congratulate all the participants for the Bioceramics 33 poster sessions. It is amazing to see so many diverse and enthusiastic early career researchers all gathered in one place, sharing their passion and desire to play their part in making the world a better place.

We look forward to reading all your future research in materials (bio)chemistry.

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Cryogenic Characterisation of Calcium Phosphate Cement/Hydrolgel Biomaterials

30 Oct 2023

By Rosie Hague, Editorial Assistant.

Probing the microporosity and 3D spatial distribution of calcium phosphate cement/hydrogel biomaterials using FIB/SEM at cryogenic temperatures

Mouad Essani, Baptiste Charbonnier, Nicolas Stephant, Hilel Moussi, Pierre Weiss, Jean Le Bideau and Patricia Abellan

Mater. Adv., 2023,4, 2474-2486 DOI: D2MA00966H

Meet the authors

Mouad Essani received his Ph.D. in physics and analytical chemistry from Sorbonne University in Paris in 2020, where he worked on the characterization of uranium microparticles in the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. His thesis work was mainly focused on the combined use of electron microscopy, X-ray spectroscopy and Monte-Carlo simulation to investigate both the microstructure and elementary composition of powder used in nuclear fuels. In 2021, he was a postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of materials Jean Rouxel in Nantes under the supervision of Dr. Patricia Abellan. During his postdoc, he investigated the behaviour of synthetic bone substitutes using cryo-electron microscopy. He is currently a research engineer in the University of Paris-Est-Creteil where he applies electron microscopy to study atmospheric particles, aerosols and their impact on the environment.

Patricia Abellan joined the Institute of Materials of Nantes (IMN at Nantes University) with a Junior Talent chair of excellence in 2019 and got tenured as a CNRS research scientist in 2020. She received her BSc in Physics from the Aalborg University (Denmark) and her Ph.D. in Materials Sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Spain, in 2011. She has held postdoctoral positions at the University of California – Davis and at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA, before taking a staff research scientist position at the SuperSTEM Laboratory (Daresbury, UK) in 2015. Her research focuses on the study of solid-liquid interfaces on hybrid and biomaterials using electron microscopy as well as on the elucidation of the radiation chemistry and radiation physics driving the processes at liquid-solid interfaces induced by the electron beam in an electron microscope.

An interview with the authors

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

I believe that I am particularly excited about the application of electron microscopy and spectroscopy tools to investigate atmospheric particles. I find topics related to this field both very challenging and interesting. Studying the impact of such particles on the environment constitutes an important aspect for our ecosystem.

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

I believe that environment friendly processes request the development of materials that have lower impact on the environment. These materials should be investigated in terms of their chemistry, microstructure, etc. I think that research in that field fits perfectly within the scope of Materials Advances.

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

I consider myself as an early career scientist so I don’t think I can provide much wisdom. The only advice I can give is to never abandon ideas (in research of in life in general) that we believe in.

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2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship winner: Jovana Milić

24 Oct 2023

By Natalie Cotterell, Development Editor.

Congratulations to Dr Jovana Milić, University of Fribourg, Switzerland for being selected as the recipient of the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship

The Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship is an annual award, established in 2010, which honours early-career scientists who have made a significant contribution to the fields of materials chemistry. This year we received numerous high-quality nominations from across the world. With help from our Advisory and Editorial Boards, each nomination was assessed and considered for the award. Dr Jovana Milić was selected for the 2023 Lectureship based on her impressive publication record, her establishment as an early-career researcher and her strong engagement in a variety of outreach opportunities to support the chemistry community.

“I am honoured by this recognition and stimulated to further contribute to the materials chemistry community!”

Dr. Jovana V. Milić is Assistant Professor and Smart Energy Materials Group Leader at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland since January 2021. She obtained her Ph.D. in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences of ETH Zurich in 2017. She then worked as a postdoctoral scientist in the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at EPFL until taking on a Group Leader position at the Adolphe Merkle Institute in September 2020 as the Swiss National Science Foundation PRIMA Fellow. Her research is centered around developing (supra)molecular materials for energy conversion, with a particular focus on hybrid photovoltaics. This involves a multidisciplinary approach at the interface of chemistry, material science, and engineering. Her research activities have been recognized by numerous honors and awards, including the CAS Future Leader 2019, Green Talents Award in 2020, and Zeno Karl Schindler Prize in 2021 for research contributions to sustainable development. She has also been awarded ERC Starting Grant in 2023 for the development of smart and sustainable hybrid materials for opto(electro)ionics. In addition to research and international collaborations, she has been invested in science outreach, policy, and diplomacy as a member of the Global Young Academy, Swiss Young Academy, the European Young Chemists’ Network, and International Younger Chemists Network, connecting and supporting young scientists globally.

You can keep up to date with Jovana’s research:

Website: jovanamilic.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jovanavmilic

Twitter/X: @jovana_v_milic

Discover Jovana’s RSC publications in this web collection to find out more about her research

Check out our interview with Jovana below:

How did you feel when you were announced as the winner of the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship?

I was surprised and honoured by the nomination and selection for the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship, which further strengthens my motivation to contribute to the community of materials chemistry.

Which of your JMC publications are you most proud of and why?

I am proud of my recent J. Mat. Chem. C 2021 (doi.org/10.1039/D1TC01533H) and our Nanoscale 2022 (doi.org/10.1039/D1NR08311B) publications, as well as Photochemistry 2022 book chapter (doi.org/10.1039/9781839167676-00346), highlighting our research and educational efforts to rely on supramolecular engineering in advancing hybrid materials toward multifunctional materials for energy conversion and smart nanotechnologies. In addition, I am proud of our J. Mat. Chem. A 2021 contribution (doi.org/10.1039/D1TA90183D) with my colleagues at the European Young Chemists’ Network (EYCN), supporting the community of young chemists. I am also grateful for these articles to be highlighted in the Emerging Investigators Issues of the journals.

At which upcoming conferences may our community meet you?

The community can meet me at several upcoming conferences in hybrid and organic electronics, photovoltaics, and supramolecular chemistry, including the Global Conference for Decarbonization of Energy and Materials (GCDM), Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite and Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP), Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MATSUS), International Conference on Science and Technology of Synthetic Electronic Materials (ICSM), and International Conference on Noncovalent Interactions (ICNI-III), as well as International Conference in Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV), which I will be chairing next year, among others.

Please join us in congratulating Jovana!

2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship shortlisted candidates

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2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship runners-up: Kwabena Bediako and Laure Biniek

24 Oct 2023

By Natalie Cotterell, Development Editor.

Congratulations to our 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship runners-up, Dr Kwabena Bediako and Dr Laure Biniek

This year, Dr Jovana Milić from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland was selected as the recipient of the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship. While we can only award one winner, we wanted to recognise two runners-up for their impressive contributions to materials chemistry and as emerging leaders in the field.

Congratulations to Dr Kwabena Bediako (University of California, Berkeley, USA) and Dr Laure Biniek (Institut Charles Sadron, CNRS- Strasbourg, France) for being selected as the runners-up of the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship.

Kwabena Bediako was born in Ghana, West Africa. He moved to the US in 2004 for his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at Calvin College, MI, graduating with honours in 2008. After a year working at UOP Honeywell in IL where he researched new catalysts for the petrochemical and gas processing industries, he travelled from the Midwest to the East Coast to begin his graduate studies in Inorganic Chemistry with Prof. Daniel Nocera at MIT (and later Harvard University). His graduate research focused on structural and mechanistic studies of water splitting electrocatalysis at cobalt and nickel compounds. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2015 from Harvard University, Kwabena began postdoctoral work in Prof. Philip Kim’s group in the Department of Physics at Harvard, where he studied ion intercalation and quantum transport in 2D van der Waals heterostructures. In July 2018, Kwabena joined the faculty of the UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry.

Laure Biniek is a CNRS researcher at the Institut Charles Sadron (ICS, France). She studied chemistry and then polymer science at the University of Lyon. She earned her Ph.D in the chemistry of low band gap polymers from the University of Strasbourg in 2010. Her postdoctoral training, completed at Imperial College London in Iain McCulloch’s group, focused on the synthesis and characterization of semi-conducting polymers for organic photovoltaics and field effect transistors. After gaining experience in structural analysis under the guidance of Martin Brinkmann at the Institut Charles Sadron (as a second postdoc), she contributed to the development of the high-temperature rubbing technique for the alignment of conjugated polymers. Currently, she is focused on researching structure-property correlations and is actively involved in developing bulk porous conducting polymers for thermoelectric applications. Since 2020, she also leads the discussions on societal responsibilities and sustainable development at ICS. Her role is to evaluate the Institute’s environmental impact and to facilitate the implementation of trajectories aimed at reducing green-house gas emission.

Discover some of Kwabena and Laure’s RSC publications in this Lectureship runners- up web collection

Check out our interview with Kwabena and Laure below:

How did you feel when you were announced as a runner-up of the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship?

KB: I was delighted to have been nominated, and so when I received news that I was one of the runners up, I was very honoured. It is a great honour to be counted among those who have received this commendation in the past.

LB: I had to read the announcement email several times, it was a wonderful surprise. There are many excellent young scientists who deserve to be recognized for their contribution to the field of materials science. It was a real honour to have been nominated, and even more to be selected among them.

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

LB: If I had to pick just one, it would be the most recent (Q. Weinbach et al., JMCC 2023). It was an exciting and challenging project to implement structural control of conjugated polymer on a few cm scale. Experimenting with ice crystallization (to create patterns on the material, but also to visualize its structure by cryo-electron microscopy) was really enjoyable. It was also a great human experience to guide super dynamic young scientists and work together with material characterization specialists.

At which upcoming conferences may our community meet you?

KB: I will be attending the Fall Materials Research Society meeting in Boston in November 2023.

LB: I will be happy to meet you at E-MRS (Strasbourg May 2024), ICSM (Dresden, June 2024) or ECT/ICT (Krakow, July 2024).

What do you like to do in your free time?

KB: I enjoy watching soccer and playing with my kids.

LB: I am quite active, even in my spare time. It’s a balanced combination of recharging my batteries in nature (hiking, climbing, sightseeing,…) and working for a more inclusive, cooperative and sustainable society (within various non-profit organizations).

Do you have any advice for Early-Career researchers who wish to be nominated for the 2024 JMC Lectureship award?

KB: Don’t be shy about asking someone to nominate you (and this applies more generally to any awards/honours for which you are eligible).

LB: Publishing your best works in JMC and communicating your research to your scientific community are certainly important. Do not forget to highlight your communication to the general public and your service to the community. Good luck with the 2024 award.

2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship shortlisted candidates

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Congratulations to our shortlisted candidates for the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship

24 Oct 2023

By Natalie Cotterell, Development Editor.

Congratulations to our shortlisted candidates for the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship

The Journal of Materials Chemistry annual lectureship, established in 2010, honours early-career scientists who have made a significant contribution to the field of materials chemistry. We were delighted to have awarded Dr Jovana Milić (University of Fribourg, Switzerland) the 2023 Lectureship.

This year we received numerous high-quality nominations from across the world and we wanted to recognise our shortlisted candidates for their contributions to materials chemistry and as emerging leaders in their fields. We have listed the names of the shortlisted candidates below and have put together a collection featuring some of their recent work published in Royal Society of Chemistry journals.

Read the shortlisted candidates web collection here.

Please note that we have only included candidates who have consented to recognition of their name in this way.

Runners-up

Prof. Kwabena Bediako (University of California, Berkeley, USA)

Prof. Laure Biniek (Institut Charles Sadron- Strasbourg, France)

Shortlisted Candidates

Prof. Ana Jorge Sobrido (Queen Mary University of London, UK)

Prof. Ariel L. Furst (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)

Dr Can Avci (ICMAB-CSIC, Spain)

Prof. Christina Li (Purdue University, USA)

Prof. Dongliang Chao (Fudan University, China)

Prof. Daniel Tordera (University of Valencia, Spain)

Prof. Daniel Tabor (Texas A&M University, USA)

Prof. Eleni Stavrinidou (Linköping University, Sweden)

Dr Gemma-Louise Davies (University of Birmingham, UK)

Prof. Guo-Hong Ning (Jinan University, China)

Dr Haegyum Kim (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA)

Prof. Huanyu (Larry) Cheng (Pennsylvania State University, USA)

Prof. Jianyu Li (McGill University, USA)

Dr Jingwei Hou (The University of Queensland, Australia)

Prof. Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)

Prof. Khoon Lim (University of Sydney, Australia)

Prof. Lukasz Marciniak (Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)

Prof. Lauren Nicole McHugh (University of Liverpool, UK)

Prof. Lisa Poulikakos (UC San Diego, USA)

Prof. Ludovic Favereau (Institute of Chemical Sciences of Rennes, France)

Dr Mayank Kumar Gupta (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India)

Dr Lea Nienhaus (Florida State University, USA)

Prof. Rebecca Greenaway (Imperial College London, UK)

Prof. Raphaële Clement (University of California Santa Barbara, USA)

Prof. Robert Macfarlane (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)

Prof. Robert Hoye (University of Oxford, UK)

Dr Ramendra Sundar Dey (Institute of Nano Science & Technology, India)

Prof. Xian-Kai Chen (Soochow University, China)

Prof. Xue Wang (City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship runners-up: Kwabena Bediako and Laure Biniek

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Open Call for Papers: Nanoengineered Biomaterials for Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drug Targeting

23 Oct 2023

By Dr Zifei Lu, Assistant Editor.

Open Call For Papers: Nanoengineered Biomaterials for Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drug Targeting

Guest edited by Kavindra K. Kesari, Sabya S. Das and Janne Ruokolainen.

We are delighted to announce a call for papers for our latest online themed collection in Materials Advances on Nanoengineered Biomaterials for Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drug Targeting that is being guest edited by Kavindra K. Kesari (Aalto University, Finland and Lovely Professional University, India), Sabya S. Das (University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, USA and DIT University, India) and Janne Ruokolainen (Aalto University, Finland).

Nanoengineered biomaterials have been shown to possess enhanced physicochemical and biological properties, leading to their increasingly widespread use for diverse biomedical applications. This themed collection broadly focuses on nanoengineered biomaterials targeting cancer and microbial infections theranostics which includes:

Nano-phytotherapeutics
Biogenic nano-biomaterials
Cancer therapeutic approaches
Antimicrobial therapeutic approaches
Nano-biomaterials based sensors
Overcoming drug resistance
Redox biology mechanism
Photothermal and photodynamic therapy
Toxicological and drug-polymer stability studies
Clinical and preclinical aspects.

Open for submissions until 31 March 2024

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly through the Materials Advances online submission system. Please mention that this submission is a contribution to the Nanoengineered Biomaterials for Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drug Targeting 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 undergo our normal rigorous peer review processes including an initial assessment prior to peer review, and that peer review and acceptance are not guaranteed. All 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.

If you have any questions about the journal or the collection, then our team would be happy to answer them. You can contact us by emailing the journal inbox.

With best wishes,

Kavindra K. Kesari (Aalto University, Finland and Lovely Professional University, India)
Sabya S. Das (University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, USA and DIT University, India)
Janne Ruokolainen (Aalto University, Finland)

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Congratulations to the poster prize winners at ECME 2023

23 Oct 2023

By Natalie Cotterell, Development Editor.

Materials Horizons, Journal of Materials Chemistry C and the Nanoscale journal family were pleased to sponsor poster prizes at the recent ECME 2023 conference held in Bari, Italy. Congratulations to the winners!

Find out more about our winners below:

Siyang Feng

For the poster entitled, ‘Donor–Acceptor–Donor Triads with Flexible Spacers: Deciphering Complex Photophysics for Targeted Materials Design’.

Since January 2021, Siyang Feng is a PhD student (funded by China Scholarship Council) in Prof. Johannes Gierschner’s group and is supervised by Prof. Johannes Gierschner at IMDEA Nanoscience Institute, Madrid, Spain. His research focuses on Photophysics of Innovative Organic Charge-Transfer Systems by Combining Optical Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemistry.

Tran Van Chinh

For the poster entitled, ‘Wood Electrochemical Transistor’

I am Van Chinh Tran, a last-year PhD student at the Lab of Organic Electronics at Linköping University, Sweden.

My PhD studies revolve around the development of organic electronics, including transistors, supercapacitors, and batteries, using forest-based materials.

Sasha Simotko

For the poster entitled, ‘Understanding the Effects of Processing Conditions on Non-Fullerene-Based Organic Photodiode Performances’

My name is Sasha( Alexandra) Simotko, and I am a 26-year-old Ph.D. candidate at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. I was born in Minsk, Belarus, and moved to Israel when I was three. I studied in Rishon Le Zion and served two years as a dentist assistant during my military service. After serving, I did my Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, followed by a Master’s degree in the Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) under the supervision of prof. Gitti Frey, studying the effect of processing conditions on the evolution of the morphology of organic photodiodes. After one year of Master’s studies, I joined the direct track to Ph.D. studies in the Materials Science and Engineering department. My research these days focuses on investigating light and energy-efficient organic systems for light-sensing applications.

Congratulations to all these fantastic winners!

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C 10th Anniversary Community Spotlight: Editorial Board

18 Oct 2023

By Natalie Cotterell, Development Editor.

Next in our ‘Community Spotlight’ series, we feature some more of our wonderful Editorial Board members who have supported Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B or C over the years through guiding the growth and development of the journal and/or actively handling papers in their Associate Editor roles. Check out their interview responses below to find out what they like about being on the Editorial Board and how they think the field of materials chemistry will develop in the next 10 years.

Professor Dan Li

Dan Li is an Associate Editor of Journal of Materials Chemistry A and Materials Advances. He is currently a Professor and the Dean of College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Jinan University, and the Director of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Supramolecular Coordination Materials and Applications. He received his B. Sc. from Sun Yat-Sen University in 1984 and then worked at Shantou University. He pursued his Ph. D. at The University of Hong Kong with Professor Chi-Ming Che during 1988–1993. Then he returned to Shantou University and became Professor in 2001. He moved to Jinan University in Guangzhou in 2016. His research interest focuses the design and fabrication of supramolecular coordination assemblies and their functions based on photoluminescence, porosity, chirality and energy storage. He has authored and co-authored more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, J. Am. Chem. Soc, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. and J. Mater. Chem. A. He was a recipient of the National Science Found for Distinguished Young Scholars of China in 2008, Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2014, Ding Ying Science & Technology Award in 2019 and Guohua Outstanding Scholar of Jinan University in 2022.

Where do you see the materials chemistry field in the next 10 years?

I would like to see that more and more new materials with diverse functions are developed for a better life and friendly environment. Innovations from Chemistry, Materials Science, Engineering and Artificial Intelligence will help to speed-up materials design, to optimize reaction processes and to create a more sustainable world.

Could you provide a brief summary of your most recent Journal of Materials Chemistry A publication?

In our recent paper (J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023, 11, 12777–12783; DOI: 10.1039/d2ta08797a), we combine the chemistry of MOFs and COFs to successfully fabricate two Cu(I) cyclic trinuclear unit (Cu-CTU)-based covalent metal–organic frameworks (CMOFs) with similar two-dimensional structures. With a strategy of the steric modification of metal nodes, the resulting MOFs show differences in crystallinity, porosity, chemical stability and catalytic activity for hydroboration reactions. The development of advanced CTU-based CMOFs provides new opportunities for designing heterogeneous catalysts and paves a new way to rationally tune the catalytic performance of MOFs.

Professor Yusuke Yamauchi

Professor Yusuke Yamauchi received his Bachelor degree (2003), Master degree (2004), and Ph.D. (2007) from Waseda University (Japan). After receiving his Ph.D., he joined the National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS) (Japan) to start his own research group. In 2016, he joined the University of Wollongong as a Full Professor. In 2017, he moved to the University of Queensland (UQ). Presently, he is a senior group leader and an ARC Laureate Fellow at AIBN and a full professor at School of Chem. Eng. in UQ. Professor Yamauchi is an Associate Editor of J. Mater. Chem. A and Chem. Eng. J. (Elsevier). He has published ~950 papers with >77,000 citations (h-index of 140) in the field of inorganic materials chemistry and inorganic synthetic chemistry. He has been recognized as Highly Cited Researchers in Chemistry (2016-2022) and Materials Science (2020-2022).

Where do you see the materials chemistry field in the next 10 years?

The preparation of nanomaterials in the past decade has relied on trial-and-error approaches. In particular, for complex alloys, such as multimetallic or high entropy alloys where multiple elements are present in the system, the tuning of the synthesis and properties can be time consuming and costly as it would require hundreds or thousands of experiments to tune/optimize the ratio of the composing elements. In the next 10 years, I predict that artificial intelligence-driven machine learning would play a tremendous role in reducing the number of experiments required for tuning the properties and performance of complex nanomaterials.

As an Associate Editor, do you have any top tips for authors preparing their manuscript?

My tips for preparing manuscripts are:

Identify early the points that you want to discuss in the paper (i.e., make a strong and compelling story)
Prepare a strong abstract by highlighting how your work is novel compared to other studies published in the literature and by pointing out the main findings of the work.
Read your papers multiple times to avoid careless typos and spelling.
Have all the co-authors read and comment on your draft.
Ensure that all your figures are readable and attractive to the readers.
Ensure that you are not simply describing your results but also explain the reasons behind your observations
Ensure that all figures (including Supporting Information figures) are cited and discussed in the text.
Summarize only the most important findings in the Conclusions

Professor Oana Jurchescu

Oana D. Jurchescu is a Baker Professor of Physics at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, USA and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. She received her PhD in 2006 from University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and then was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD. Her expertise is in charge transport in organic and organic/inorganic hybrid semiconductors, device physics and semiconductor processing. She is the recipient of several awards, including the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, NSF (2013), the NSF special creativity award (2022), the Pegram Award from American Physical Society Southeastern Section for excellence in teaching and mentoring (2022) and several university awards. She is an Associate Editor for Journal of Materials Chemistry C since 2019 and serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Chemical Physics Reviews, Organic Electronics, and J. Phys Materials.

What do you think of Journal of Materials Chemistry C as a place to publish impactful materials chemistry research?

Journal of Materials Chemistry C covers a wide range of topics in chemistry, physics, materials science, and engineering. This diversity of scope attracts a diverse readership of scientists from different backgrounds and with different perspectives. This exposure to a variety of viewpoints helps to ensure that the published work is of high quality and has a significant impact on the field.

Could you provide a brief summary of your most recent Journal of Materials Chemistry C publication?

In our manuscript “Charge carrier traps in organic semiconductors: a review on the underlying physics and impact on electronic devices” H. F. Haneef, A. M. Zeidell, O. D Jurchescu, J. Mater. Chem C 8, 759 (2020) we presented a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon of charge carrier trapping in organic semiconductors (OSCs). Trapping is a common occurrence in these materials, and the details of the nature, spatial distribution, and energetics of traps, as well as the timescales of trapping and detrapping events, can have a significant impact on the performance of organic optoelectronic devices.

Dr Subrata Kundu

Dr. Subrata Kundu received his Ph.D from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, India in early 2005. Then he moved to University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA and later to Texas A &M University, College station, Texas, USA as a post-doc fellow (from 2005 to 2010). He is currently working as a Principal Scientist at CSIR-CECRI, Karaikudi, India. Dr. Kundu recently received prestigious FRSC (Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry) from London in 2023. Dr. Kundu is serving as an associate editor of prestigious ‘Journal of Materials Chemistry A’ and ‘Materials Advances’ from RSC publishers since 2022 and ‘Scientific Reports’ from ‘Nature group publishers’ since 2015. Dr. Kundu and his co-workers are working in the forefront area of Material Sciences with emphasizes on energy, environment, catalysis and electrocatalysis fields.

What do you think of Journal of Materials Chemistry A as a place to publish impactful materials chemistry research?

I think Journal of Materials Chemistry A (JMC A) is a great place to publish impactful materials chemistry research. The journal has a strong editorial board and a rigorous peer-review process, which ensures that only high-quality research can be published.

Could you provide a brief summary of your most recent Journal of Materials Chemistry A publication?

In our last work, Ni₃S₄-functionalized 2D CoFe-LDH heterostructure nanosheet was designed for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in a wide pH range. The negatively polarized sulfide ions and improved magnetic ordering in active cobalt sites of the heterostructure enhanced the deprotonation of OH* intermediate and O₂ desorption, respectively. As a result, the Ni₃S₄@CoFe-LDH heterostructure showed excellent OER performance with a low overpotential of 262 mV and a high specific turnover frequency (TOF) value of 4.93 s⁻¹ (J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023, 11, 16349-16362).

Professor Kasper Moth-Poulsen

Professor Kasper Moth-Poulsen is a research leader in the field of nano-chemistry, energy storage materials and synthetic chemistry. His research activities focus on the development of new solar energy storage technologies. He studied organic chemistry at the University of Copenhagen where he obtained the Cand. Scient. (2003) and Ph.D. (2007). In 2009, he continued his career abroad as a postdoctoral associate at the College of Chemistry at U.C. Berkeley, where he worked with professors Rachel Segalman and Peter Vollhardt. In 2011 Kasper was recruited to Chalmers University of Technology, as an assistant professor. In 2014 he was promoted to associate professor in 2017 to professor and in 2019 full professor. Since October 2021 Kasper has been awarded a professor position at the Catalan Institute of Advanced Studies (ICREA) and joins the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) as an ICREA research professor. In January 2023 he joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalunya (UPC). Kasper is an Associate Editor of Journal of Materials Chemistry C, and Materials Advances. He is active in several start-ups and spin-out companies from his research group, including Con-Science AB, and NanoScientifica Scandinavica AB.

What do you like most about being on the Editorial Board for Journal of Materials Chemistry C?

I am really enjoying contributing to all parts of the global scientific project from research to publishing. The Assoc. editor role give me the opportunity to contribute to the dissemination part. What I really enjoy when I get to handle a new paper is to try to solve the puzzle of identifying the best possible match of reviewers to the new piece of science.

As an Associate Editor, do you have any top tips for authors preparing their manuscript?

The essential thing is of course that you have a story to tell about an exciting piece of materials science. Think about all elements of the manuscript, how the introduction and figures complement this story in the best possible way.

Thank you to all of our dedicated Editorial Board members for their support of the Journal of Materials Chemistry family of journals over the years.

We hope you enjoyed finding out more about some of our Editorial Board members. 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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Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

Open call for papers: Flexible electrode materials

Design and characterization of flexible electrode materials

Scope of the collection

How to contribute

Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C 10th Anniversary Community Spotlight: First time authors

Bioceramics 33 RSC Poster Prize winners

Cryogenic Characterisation of Calcium Phosphate Cement/Hydrolgel Biomaterials

Meet the authors

An interview with the authors

2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship winner: Jovana Milić

2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship runners-up: Kwabena Bediako and Laure Biniek

Congratulations to our shortlisted candidates for the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship

Open Call for Papers: Nanoengineered Biomaterials for Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drug Targeting

Open Call For Papers: Nanoengineered Biomaterials for Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drug Targeting

Guest edited by Kavindra K. Kesari, Sabya S. Das and Janne Ruokolainen.

Congratulations to the poster prize winners at ECME 2023

Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C 10th Anniversary Community Spotlight: Editorial Board

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