RSC Applied Interfaces Blog

Meet our Advisory Board members who work in environmental remediation

In February, we introduced our inaugural Advisory Board for RSC Applied Interfaces. Each month, we will be shining a spotlight on some of our new Advisory Board members and highlighting their current research interests.

This week we are delighted to introduce Vicki H. Grassian, Paolo Fornasiero and Carlos F. O. Graeff as members of our inaugural Advisory Board.

Vicki H. Grassian is a Distinguished Professor and holds the Distinguished Chair in Physical Chemistry at the University of California San Diego. Professor Grassian’s research focuses on the chemistry of environmental interfaces. She has received many awards and honors for her research on the chemistry and impacts of environmental interfaces including atmospheric aerosols, engineered and geochemical nanomaterials and indoor surfaces. Most recently, she received the 2021 American Chemical Society Award in Surface Chemistry, the American Chemical Society Geochemistry Medal and the Sustainable Nanotechnology Award. She is also an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“I am excited to be part of the launch of this new journal RSC Applied Interfaces as an advisory board member” – Vicki H. Grassian

Paolo Fornasiero is Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Trieste. His scientific interests are in the field of inorganic chemistry, with attention to the design and development of multi-functional nano-systems and their advanced applications in energy related processes and environmental heterogeneous catalysis. Paolo Fornasiero has published more than 300 research articles, 19 book chapters, and holds 4 patents. Since 2022, he has been a member of the Academia Europaea and has been a member of the European Academy of Sciences since 2021. He has received various awards including the 2005 Nasini Medal, the 2013 Chiusoli Medal and the Malatesta award from the Italian Chemical Society. He also received the 2016 Heinz Heinemann Award from the International Association of Catalysis Societies.

Carlos F. O. Graeff received his Ph.D. in Physics from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in 1994. After a post‐doctorate at TU München as an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation stipendiary, he joined the University of São Paulo (USP), Campus Ribeirao Preto, as Assistant (1996-1999) and Associate Professor (1999‐2006). In 2006 he joined the State University of São Paulo (UNESP) as Full Professor. His field of interest is materials science, more specifically electronic devices (solar cells, thin-film transistors, etc.), biomaterials/bioelectronics and electronic magnetic resonance. He has a strong interest in nurturing scientific talent and has supervised more than 50 Masters and Ph.D. students as well as postdocs. He has published more than 200 research articles and holds several patents.

Please join us in welcoming our new Advisory Board members to the journal community!

Meet our Advisory Board members who work in biomedical coatings, adhesives and devices

In February, we introduced our inaugural Advisory Board for RSC Applied Interfaces. Each month, we will be shining a spotlight on some of our new Advisory Board members and highlighting their current research interests.

This week we are delighted to introduce Teri W. Odom and Fiorenzo Vetrone as members of our inaugural Advisory Board.

Teri W. Odom is a Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Chemistry Department at Northwestern University. She is an expert in designing structured nanoscale materials that exhibit extraordinary size and shape-dependent optical and physical properties. Odom has pioneered a suite of multi-scale nanofabrication tools that have resulted in plasmon-based nanoscale lasers that exhibit tunable colour, flat optics that can manipulate light at the nanoscale, and hierarchical substrates that show controlled wetting and super-hydrophobicity. She has also invented a class of biological nanoconstructs that are facilitating unique insight into nanoparticle-cell interactions and that show superior imaging and therapeutic properties because of their gold nanostar shape.

Fiorenzo Vetrone is a Professor at Université du Québec, Canada. Professor Vetrone’s research interests focus on luminescent nanoparticles and their integration into multifunctional nanoplatforms used by biological systems and nanomedicine. His research team focuses its work on nanoparticles doped with rare earths (lanthanides) and the exploitation of their optical properties (upconversion and near-infrared emission) for the simultaneous detection and treatment of diseases such as cancer. More particularly, he is studying the possibility of exploiting the luminescent properties of nanoparticles to trigger other modalities through photosensitivity, with applications in thermal capture and nanothermometry, upscaling and multiphoton and near-infrared bioimaging, controlled release of drugs, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, biosensing.

Please join us in welcoming our new Advisory Board members to the journal community!

Meet our Advisory Board members who work in energy storage, energy conversion and electrochemistry ‌ ‌

In February, we introduced our inaugural Advisory Board for RSC Applied Interfaces. Each month, we will be shining a spotlight on some of our new Advisory Board members and highlighting their current research interests.

This week we are delighted to introduce Sanjay Mathur, Zhongwei Chen, Karim Zaghib and Lianzhou Wang as members of our inaugural Advisory Board.

Sanjay Mathur is a Chair Professor and Director of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Cologne, Germany. His research interests focus on the application of nanomaterials and advanced ceramic coatings for energy technologies. He holds 11 patents, has co-authored over 500 original research publications and has edited several books. He was elected Fellow of the European Academy of Science in 2020 and as Foreign Fellow of National Academy of Science, India in 2021. He was awarded the Woody White Award of the Materials Research Society (MRS) in 2021 and had received the Medal of the Chemical Research Society of India (2022). He is the current President of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS, 2022-23) USA.

“I am glad to be on the Advisory Board of RSC Applied Interfaces because surfaces and interfaces are most fascinating aspects of materials science; they manifest a unique symbiosis – the art of living together!” – Sanjay Mathur

Zhongwei Chen is a Professor in Advanced Materials for Clean Energy at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His research interests are in the development of advanced energy materials and electrodes for fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and lithium-ion batteries. He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Ontario Early Researcher Award, an NSERC Discovery Supplement Award, and the Distinguished Performance and Research Award. In 2018 and 2019, Dr Chen was listed as a Global Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate Analytics. He was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2019.

Karim Zaghib is a Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at Concordia University, Canada. He specialises in electrochemistry, rechargeable batteries (lithium-ion and solid-state), carbon science, energy transition and transportation electrification. Since 2022, he has been director of the Collaborative Center on Energy and its Transition (C2ET). Between 2020 and 2021, he was a practicing professor at McGill University and a strategic advisor to the management committee of Investissement Québec, where he was one of the architects of the Quebec strategy for the battery industry development. In 2019, he was awarded the Prix Lionel-Boulet by the Government of Quebec.

Lianzhou Wang is Professor at The University of Queensland, Australia. He is Australian Research Council (ARC) Australian Laureate Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering, Director of the Nanomaterials Centre (Nanomac), and Senior Group Leader of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN). Prof. Wang’s research focuses on the synthesis, characterisation and application of semiconductor nanomaterials for use in renewable energy conversion/storage systems including photocatalytsts for solar hydrogen and valuable chemical production, rechargeable batteries and low-cost solar cells.

Please join us in welcoming our new Advisory Board members to the journal community!

Meet some of our Advisory Board members who work in protective coatings

In February, we introduced our inaugural Advisory Board for RSC Applied Interfaces. Each month, we will be shining a spotlight on some of our new Advisory Board members and highlighting their current research interests.

This week we are delighted to introduce Viola Birss and Yu Fang as members of our inaugural Advisory Board.

Viola Birss is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Calgary, Canada. Her research focuses on better understanding fuel cell reaction mechanisms, as well as on improving the performance and lifetime of low temperature PEM fuel cells through the development of paradigm-shifting nanoporous carbon scaffold materials, for use as both catalyst and microporous layers. Professor Birss is also engaged in the development of core@shell nanoparticles, protective coatings and other novel strategies to combat the corrosion of metals, electrochemical biosensors, and a range of structurally ordered nanomaterials for a variety of clean energy/environment applications.

Yu Fang is a Professor of Physical Chemistry and Polymer Science at the Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry (CAS) and is a Professor at Shaanxi Normal University, China. His research interests include the development of film-based fluorescent sensors via innovative design of sensing fluorophores and modulation of their excited-state processes. Professor Fang’s research also focuses on development of smart molecular materials of diversified internal structures with emphases in physical chemistry at the surfaces, interfaces and adlayers of the relevant systems.

Please join us in welcoming our new Advisory Board members to the journal community!

Meet some of our Advisory Board members who work in electronics, photonics and optoelectronics

In February, we introduced our inaugural Advisory Board for RSC Applied Interfaces. Each month, we will be shining a spotlight on some of our new Advisory Board members and highlighting their current research interests.

This week we are delighted to introduce Clara Santato, Vivian W.-W. Yam and Malik Maaza as members of our inaugural Advisory Board.

Clara Santato is a Professor in the Department of Engineering Physics at Polytechnique Montreal. Dr Santato’s key achievements include her seminal work on WO3-catalysed water photoelectrolysis for hydrogen (H2) production, her work on organic (carbon-based) electronics, specifically on Organic Thin Film Transistors, her work on mixed electronic-ionic transport properties and biodegradability of the biopigment melanin. Clara is the PI of a Canada-wide Collaborative Research and Training Experience in Sustainable Electronics and Eco-Design (CREATE SEED, 2020-2027) initiative, funded by NSERC, bringing together some 20 universities and industrial partners in Canada and abroad.

Clara Santato will be speaking about her latest research at our free, one-day symposium in Seattle on 24 April 2024.

Find out more on our Events page.

Vivian W.-W. Yam obtained both her BSc (Hons) and PhD from The University of Hong Kong, and is currently the Philip Wong Wilson Wong Professor in Chemistry and Energy and Chair Professor of Chemistry at The University of Hong Kong. She was elected to Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences, International Member (Foreign Associate) of US National Academy of Sciences, Foreign Member of Academia Europaea, Fellow of TWAS and Founding Member of Hong Kong Academy of Sciences. She was Laureate of the 2011 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award. Her research interests include inorganic/organometallic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, photophysics and photochemistry, and metal-based molecular and nano-assembled functional materials for sensing, organic optoelectronics and energy research.

Malik Maaza is a Professor at the University of South Africa (UNISA). His research interests include nanotechnologies, nanophotonics, and photo-active nanomaterials. Professor Maaza is also interested in smart coatings for IR optical modulation and nanoplasmonics, biogenic nanoparticles and green nanochemistry, as well as neutron research reactors, neutron, X-rays scattering and nuclear based techniques.

Please join us in welcoming our new Advisory Board members to the journal community!

Meet our Advisory Board members who work in 2D materials

In February, we introduced our inaugural Advisory Board for RSC Applied Interfaces. Each month, we will be shining a spotlight on some of our new Advisory Board members and highlighting their current research interests.

This week we are delighted to introduce Paolo Samorì and Victor M. Castaño as members of our inaugural Advisory Board.

Paolo Samorì is Distinguished Professor at the Université de Strasbourg and Director of the Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS). He is Member of the Académie des technologies, Member of ACATECH, Foreign Member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB), Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC), Member of the Academia Europaea, Fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS) and Senior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). He has been permanent research scientist at the CNR of Bologna. His research interests encompass nanochemistry, supramolecular sciences, materials chemistry with a specific focus on 2D materials as well as functional organic/polymeric and hybrid nanomaterials for applications in optoelectronics, energy and sensing.

“RSC Applied Interfaces will offer a platform where interfacial phenomena are brought to function to address key technological questions” – Paolo Samorì

Victor M. Castaño received MSc and PhD degrees from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) and spent 2 years as a postdosctoral fellow at IBM´s Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York. He has authored and co-authored over 800 peer-review papers. His research interests are in the area of materials science and applied physics, particularly in the development of nano-sized materials for various applications, including nanomedicine and energy. He also works on ethics of research and design of public policies for science and technology. He is full-professor and founding Director at the Centro de Fisica Aplicada y Tecnologia Avanzada (CFATA) of UNAM and a Visiting Scholar at Purdue University. His work has received over 20,000 citations and he is one of the most cited Latin-American scientists in his area.

Please join us in welcoming our new Advisory Board members to the journal community!

Meet some of our Advisory Board members who work in nanomaterials’ interfaces

We recently introduced our inaugural Advisory Board for RSC Applied Interfaces. Each month, we will be shining a spotlight on some of our new Advisory Board members and highlighting their current research interests.

This week we are delighted to introduce Giridhar U. Kulkarni, Xing Yi Ling, Xiaogang Liu and Shu-Hong Yu as members of our inaugural Advisory Board.

Giridhar U. Kulkarni holds a Ph.D. (1992) in Chemistry from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. After his postdoctoral studies at Cardiff University, UK (1993-95), he joined Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. After serving as Director of Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Science, Bangalore (2015-2020), he joined JNCASR as its President. He is a Fellow of major science and engineering academies in India. His research interests include synthesis of nanomaterials of different dimensionalities and fabrication of devices. Currently, his focus is neuromorphic devices for in-memory computing and mimicking animal behaviour. He has published more than 330 papers and holds 26 patents.

“I am proud to be associated with RSC Applied Interfaces” – Giridhar U. Kulkarni

Xing Yi Ling is a Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She was the recipient of the Lectureship Awardee at the Chemical Society Japan Annual Meeting (2016), L’ORÉAL Singapore for Women in Science National Fellowship (2015), the Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Association prize for Young Scientist (2014), Singapore National Research Foundation Fellowship (2012), Rubicon Fellowship by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (2009), and IUPAC Young Chemist award (2009). Her research group focuses on nanoparticle synthesis, surface chemistry, self-assembly, nanopatterning, nanofabrication, materials and device characterization. In particular, her group uses molecule-specific surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for fundamental studies and applications in catalysis, sensing, and diagnosis.

Xiaogang Liu earned his BE degree in Chemical Engineering from Beijing Technology and Business University, China. He received his MS degree in Chemistry from East Carolina University and completed his PhD at Northwestern University. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at MIT for two years before joining the faculty of the National University of Singapore. He holds a joint appointment with the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering. His research interests include luminescent materials synthesis, supramolecular chemistry, transition metal-based catalysis, and surface science for sensing, optoelectronic and biomedical applications.

Shu-Hong Yu is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of China. Prof. Yu’s research interests include bio-inspired synthesis of nanoscale building blocks, self-assembly and macroscopic assemblies, nanocomposites, and their functions and applications. He has authored and co-authored more than 430 refereed journal publications, 17 invited book chapters, and 26 patents. His recent awards include the 2nd Prize of National Natural Science Award awarded by Chinese Government (2010, 2016), and the Roy-Somiya Medal of the International Solvothermal and Hydrothermal Association (ISHA) (2010).

Please join us in welcoming our new Advisory Board members to the journal community!

We are delighted to introduce our inaugural Advisory Board for RSC Applied Interfaces! Our Advisory Board is comprised of internationally renowned researchers working across the fields of applied interfacial and surface science.

Please join us in welcoming our new Advisory Board members:

• Viola Birss, University of Calgary, Canada
• Victor M. Castaño, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico
• Zhongwei Chen, University of Waterloo, Canada
• Yu Fang, Shaanxi Normal University, China
• Paolo Fornasiero, University of Trieste, Italy
• Carlos F. O. Graeff, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Brazil
• Vicki H. Grassian, University of California San Diego, USA
• Giridhar U. Kulkarni, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, India
• Xing Yi Ling, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Xiaogang Liu, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
• Malik Maaza, iThemba Labs and UNISA, South Africa
• Sanjay Mathur, University of Cologne, Germany
• Teri W. Odom, Northwestern University, USA
• Paolo Samorì, University of Strasbourg, France
• Clara Santato, Polytechnique Montreal, Canada
• Fiorenzo Vetrone, Université du Québec, Canada
• Lianzhou Wang, University of Queensland, Australia
• Vivian W.-W. Yam, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
• Shu-Hong Yu, University of Science and Technology of China, China
• Karim Zaghib, Concordia University, Canada

We are excited to welcome our new Advisory Board members to our journal community and look forward to working with them as we shape and grow our new journal.