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On March 30, 2026, Borja Rodriguez-Barea successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled "Novel Resistive Switching in Biotemplated Colloidal 1D Metallic Wires." The defense showcased his innovative research in the field of nanotechnology and electronics, with promising advancements for the future of reprogrammable interconnects in electronic circuits.

Borja's work focused on self-assembled metallic nanostructures and demonstrated significant improvements in their electronic performance, including enhanced conductivity and reliability compared to earlier designs. A key highlight of his research was the development of a novel method to precisely position these nanostructures between metallic electrodes, an important step that opens the door for their integration into advanced device architectures. The research presented has been praised for its potential to influence the development of next-generation electronic circuits, where tunable and reprogrammable interconnects could become a reality.

Doctoral Committee:

Chair: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Caroline Murawski (TU Dresden)
First Reviewer: Prof. Dr. Artur Erbe (TU Dresden)
Second Reviewer: Prof. Dr. Tim Liedl (LMU Munich)
Additional Member: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Stefan Mannsfeld (TU Dresden)

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We congratulate our PhD student Lukas Mielke who wins the Poster Award for his poster on "Chromatographic Gas Sensor Stacks: Spatiotemporal VOC Detection for Improved Selectivity" at the Bunsen-Conference 2026 “Properties and Processes under Confinement!

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On February 24, 2026, Louis Conrad Winkler successfully defended his PhD thesis on the topic "Advancing Photodetectors for Near-Infrared Measurements" at TU Dresden. His research, supervised by Prof. Karl Leo, focused on integrating organic diodes (similar to OLEDs) into a microcavity-based architecture to enable narrowband detection for mobile spectroscopy applications. The work introduced innovative nanoparticle deposition techniques to create thin and reproducible layers, extending the detection range up to 1850 nm. Additionally, an intrinsic signal amplification mechanism was integrated, simplifying signal readout and allowing for cost-effective electronics. These advancements pave the way for compact, lightweight, and robust sensors in fields like healthcare and environmental monitoring. This achievement highlights exciting new possibilities for infrared spectroscopy and beyond.

Awarded "magna cum laude", the thesis reflects a profound understanding of device physics gained through extensive experiments.  

Advisor: Prof. Karl Leo

  • 1st reviewer: Prof. Karl Leo
  • 2nd reviewer: Prof. Alexander Eychmüller
  • 3rd reviewer: Prof. Koen Vandewal

Examination Committee:

  • Chair: Prof. Ralf Schützhold
  • Prof. Karl Leo
  • Prof. Sebastian Reineke
  • Dr. Uri Vool

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From February 9 to February 10, 2026, the on-site review for the renewal of the Research Training Group (RTG) 2767 took place at TUD Barkhausen Building. After months of preparation by the entire RTG team, the two-day evaluation provided an in-depth review of the scientific research program, the measurable outcomes, and the specific support measures offered by the RTG.

The review panel, consisting of seven experts, along with three representatives from the German Research Foundation (DFG), assessed the scientific excellence and the structural and content-related quality of the doctoral training program. A key focus of the review was on the doctoral researchers themselves: six PhD candidates from the first and second cohorts delivered scientific presentations showcasing their research projects.

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Dr. Yudhajit Bhattacharjee (Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden - IPF Dresden) has been honored with the Best Poster Award at the 2D MXene Symposium during the 2025 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston. Several PhD students funded by Research Training Group (RTG) 2767 are involved in the paper - it's one of our first joint PhD publications.

Dr. Bhattacharjee’s award-winning research focuses on the molecular engineering of Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXenes, introducing innovative strategies for tuning MXene interfaces through controlled molecular crosslinking. This approach enables precise control over inter-layer spacing and electron transport properties, as confirmed by advanced characterization techniques and theoretical calculations. The study demonstrates that such molecularly engineered MXene architectures can be effectively utilized in chemiresistive sensing devices, offering tunable response characteristics for advanced sensor applications .

The findings have been recently published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, highlighting the potential impact of this work on the development of next-generation MXene-based technologies.

Publication: https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.202518884

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WISSENSCHAFTLICHES KOLLOQUIUM: Short Stories from the World of Optical Materials: Hot-Electron Generation in Nanocrystals, Chiral Photochemistry and More

Prof. Dr. Alexander Govorov, Ohio University, USA

Thursday, 27 November, 10:00
Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (IPF)
(Entrance Hohe Straße 6)

ABSTRACT:

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a person (Nadia Günther) holding a bouquet of flowers and wearing a mortarboard
Mission accomplished! © F. Günther

On October 21, Nadia Günther defended her PhD thesis titled “From Colloids to Devices: I-III-VI₂ Nanocrystals for Novel Field-Effect Transistors”. She received the highest honor summa cum laude. Nadia was the first person of the 1st generation of RTG students to finish her doctoral studies.

The presentation lasted 30 minutes, followed by a 30-minute discussion on the dissertation work. The examination committee consisted of Prof. Alexander Eychmüller (first examiner), Prof. Karl Leo (second examiner), Prof. Carolin Murawski (third examiner), and Prof. Ulrich Rant, who served as chair.

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group photo of Dr. Christian Roßner, and Prof. Andreas Fery
Dr. Christian Roßner, Prof. Andreas Fery; (C) R. Roßner

On October 27th, Christian Roßner presented his habilitation work titled "Polymer-Grafted Gold (Supra-)Colloids: From Mechanisms of Formation to Dynamic Soft Matter," which he developed together with his team and under the mentorship of Professor Andreas Fery since beginning his independent scientific career in Dresden in November 2019. Focusing on the synthesis of "hairy" colloids, their targeted assembly into higher-order structures, and the design of functional supracolloids, this habilitation project is directly linked to the research activities within the RTG and forms the foundation for tackling challenges in the fields of (bio-)sensing and energy materials.

In addition to Prof. Fery, the commission members were Professors Stefan Kaskel (Chair), Anjana Devi, Xinliang Feng, Thomas Heine, Jens-Uwe Sommer, Inez Weidinger, and Jan Weigand.

Dr. Roßner is Group Leader for "Hybrid Nanomaterials" at Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (IPF), and Assistant Professor at UCT Prague. Within the RTG 2767, he covers this topic as an Principal Investigator.

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a) Photographs showing a stable dispersion of OAm stabilized MXenes in chloroform before (left) and after (right) the addition of DAs. b) Sketch depicting the expected nanostructure of the material, i.e., dispersed, OAm-stabilized MXene flakes (left) and stacks of DA cross-linked MXene flakes (right).

In their latest article, our Principal Investigator Dr. Hendrik Schlicke (SchlickeLab, Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden — IPF) and his colleagues demonstrate how MXenes can benefit from concepts familiar to colloidal chemists: By employing ligand functionalization and molecular cross-linking they created ink-processable stable dispersions and tunable hybrid materials from Ti3C2Tx MXenes, which show promising properties for electronics and sensing applications.

The article was just published in Advanced Functional Materials.

Article: Molecular Cross-linking of MXenes: Tunable Interfaces and Chemiresistive Sensing

Authors: Yudhajit Bhattacharjee, Lukas Mielke, Mahmoud Al-Hussein, Shivam Singh, Karen Schaefer, Borja Rodríguez-Barea, Qiong Li, Anik Kumar Ghosh, Artur Erbe, Carmen Herrmann, Yana Vaynzof, Andreas Fery, Hendrik Schlicke

Link: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202518884 (open access)

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(C) Borja Rodriguez Barea

Congratulations to our doctoral researcher and PhD representative Borja Rodriguez Barea! He won cfaed's annual "Scientific Image Competiton"!

Every year, cfaed calls to submit the best visual output from all its labs and research fields. Also in 2025, wonderful and stunning images of the daily scientific work were submitted.

Now, the cfaed-wide voting was taking place – and they finally announced the winners:

  1. Borja Rodriguez Barea: Bridging Worlds with Gold
  2. Kelly Henze: Reactive Copper for Motion
  3. Patryk Falat: Trinity

Friedrich Dürrenmatt, famous Swiss author and dramatist once said: "In science, there is the unity, in art the diversity of the mystery we call the world."

View all winning pictures and all submissions