DrFilipPodjaski

Summary

Filip Podjaski is a UKRI Research Fellow in the Durrant Group, Department of Chemistry. He investigates light-driven and ionic processes in polymer-based semiconductors for enhanced solar hydrogen production in natural environments, mainly by time-resolved optical spectroscopy techniques.

Filip joined Imperial College in August 2022 via a Marie-Sklodowska-Curie fellowship. Beforehand, he worked in the Nanochemistry department, Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI-FKF), Germany for many years. After his joint PhD at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) at MPI-FKF, he continued his career as postdoc and group leader, focussing on emerging photocharging materials and related concepts, carbon nitrides for photocatalysis, and inorganic electrocatalysts for water splitting.

Being a physicist by formation (University of Göttingen, Germany and Lyon, France), Filip's research interests are very interdisciplinary and bridge fundamental (photo-)physical understanding with chemical energy conversion functions. Studying environmental influences on materials’ performance, and modifications to tailor these interactions, Filip aims to contribute to adapted and efficient solutions for our renewable energy conversion and storage infrastructure.

Current and past research topics include:

(i) Photocatalytic hydrogen production from water by suspended nano-and microparticles

(ii) Photocharging materials (intrinsically combining the function of a batter and solar cell) for new applications in fuel and especially electricity supply on demand (in the dark), as well as for sensing, (memristive) information storage and its processing.

(iii) (Photo-)Electrocatalyst development and characterization for hydrogen and oxygen evolution from water, as well as CO₂ reduction

(iv) Light-driven microswimmers for biomedical applications including smart drug delivery and responsive functions, making use of porous organic semiconductor materials, photocatalysis and photocharging.

Filip has (co-)discovered the photo-ionic mechanisms enabling photocharging in organic materials, enabling the realization of organic solar batteries and single-material based photo-memristive sensing, for which he shares patents. His research on strain engineered electrocatalysts enabled fundamental process modification for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in acidic media. His work on multifunctional light-driven microswimmers enabled their used in natural (salt containing) environments and shed light into possibilities of targeted drug sorption and delivery applications.

Filip is also involved in the med-tech startup endosurge, for which he currently acts as advisor.

For publications, see also google scholar.

Publications

Journals