Doctoral students from the FAU Profile Center Solar win GSMS Winter School Research Proposal Competition
GSMS competition prepares PhD students for scientific work
An interdisciplinary team of doctoral students from the FAU Profile Center Solar has won this year’s Graduate School Molecular Science (GMSM) research project competition. The young scientists took part in the GSMS Winter School, which took place in Kirchberg, Austria, in January 2024. The aim of the competition was for interdisciplinary teams consisting of four people to develop research proposals in accordance with DFG guidelines and present them within a time frame of 20 minutes.
This year’s winning team consists of Rebecca Guldi (AK Jux), Daniel Krappmann (AK Hirsch), Florian Steiger (AK Pérez-Ojeda), and Tobias Ullrich (AK Guldi), with their project titled “From open-shell singlet diradicaloids to tetraradicaloids: Synthetic establishment of a tetraradicaloid library”. The concept behind their research proposal is to synthetically target novel organic structures, so-called tetraradicaloids, which allow the enhancement and control over the degree of tetraradical character. The realization of these molecules could lead to unprecedented electronic, optical, and magnetic properties with potential applications across various research domains.
Specifically, tetraradicaloids could be utilized as materials for singlet fission in organic photovoltaics, where controlling their character is crucial for improving thermodynamic efficiency and increasing double exciton formation rates. This success underscores the spirit of GSMS Winterschool to foster students’ ability to collaborate across disciplines effectively.
GSMS
The Graduate School Molecular Science was founded in 2008. It offers doctoral students an interdisciplinary environment that ranges from molecular materials and the design and engineering of molecular catalysts to molecular modeling and simulation. Scientists from the Faculty of Sciences at FAU and the Faculty of Engineering are involved.
FAU Solar
FAU Solar Profile Center is researching strategies to overcome the limitations of solar power conversion and is accelerating the development of low-temperature printable semiconductors. The aim is to produce cheap and green solar power on a large scale and at the highest output without harming the environment.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Dirk M. Guldi
dirk.guldi@fau.de
Prof. Dr. Norbert Jux
norbert.jux@fau.de