Members

The field of organic electronics has come a long way in the past two decades with development of OLED, smartphone displays, colored light sources and portable solar cells which have become an integral part of our daily lives. These technological advancements are enabled by innovation in materials design along with device engineering. Since the future of organic electronics relies heavily on novel materials, there is urgent need to develop high performing organic materials by low-cost synthetic approaches. My research work focuses on molecular design and synthesis of conjugated polymers, and study of their structure-property relationships for organic electronic applications. 

Samantha received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Florida while studying with Prof. Kirk Schanze on water soluble conjugated polymer synthesis and materials characterization. During a brief time for her Master’s she worked with Prof. Joshua Vaughan on developing super absorbent polymer hydrogels for expansion microscopy. In 2017, she joined Prof. Christine Luscombe’s group for her PhD and focused on (1) synthesizing environmentally benign semiconducting polymers with direct arylation and (2) studying microplastics in marine organisms with Raman spectroscopy and computer vision techniques. 

He loves Hiking, workout and cooking.

During his Ph.D., Baitan worked on the development of new cyclization strategies to access fused heterocyclic compounds containing nitrogen and oxygen. Most of his works focused on the exploitation of eco-friendly and cheap iron-catalysis. Earlier he had worked briefly on glycosylation reactions as part of his M.Sc. dissertation. He has joined OIST as a postdoctoral researcher in August 2022. His current research interest revolves around cross-dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) reactions for the syntheses of semiconducting pi-conjugated polymers. He is also motivated in achieving the target with successful application of iron-catalysis, avoiding the use of expensive and toxic transition metals. Music, literature and travelling are as integral parts of his life as is his research.

I received my MSc degree in 2019 from Stella Maris College, Chennai, India. My dissertation work was centred on the preparation of a Ru-based catalyst for the dehydrogenation of formic acid and bimetallic nanocatalysts in different compositions for the biomass conversion of furfural.

I joined OIST in Jan 2022, and my first lab rotation was with Prof. Christine Luscombe. Later, in Jan 2023, I joined the lab as a PhD student, and my thesis work will focus on the synthesis of a voltage-sensitive dye, ANNINE-6. A multi-step synthetic process that it is, C-H Arylation is my initial and immediate challenge, and I am tackling it One Step At A Time!

I read for academia, a little less than I read for pleasure. I am a natural at singing off-key and dancing off-beat. Please talk to me in Bollywood/Kollywood movie references.

E-mail: nivedha.velmurugan [at] oist.jp

After graduation from Faculty of  Science, Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt, I worked as a member of research project for synthesis and characterization of organic and polymeric materials and its applications in electronic fields  and optical cells, then I performed pre-master studies in 2017-2018 and finallyI obtained my M. Sc. degree in applied organic chemistry with thesis entitled "Synthesis and Spectroscopic Studies of Some π-Conjugated Organic and Polymeric Materials" in February 2021. During my master research, I worked on synthesis of several monomeric and oligomeric organic materials, based on  the donor-acceptor (D-A) system, photophysical, electrochemical, and morphological investigations of the  synthesized polymers for optoelectronic applications.

 

 

Beside academia, I like watching historical series, documentaries, visiting historical places, playing football, and watching both football and handball matches.

 

E-mail: abdulrahman-bakry [at] oist.jp

 

 

 

Gilda is in the final year of her Bachelor's degree in Nanotechnology at Yachay Tech University, Ecuador. She conducted her research in hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of CQDs from bioprecursors such as the pseudostem of banana controlling its structure and its surface chemistry, among other properties. She experienced a summer research internship in the Physics of Nanostructured Material Research Group at University of Vienna, Austria. There, she received complex training in the use of TEM and STEM microscopes for the characterization of 2D materials (graphene and HBN). She joined Pi-Conjugated Polymers unit at OIST as a research intern in August, 2022. Here, Gilda desires to work on organic electrochemical transistors for the completion of her thesis project.