Chemistry of Materials Lectureship and Best Paper Award

The Chemistry of Materials Lectureship and Best Paper Award recognizes the authors of an article published in an issue of Chemistry of Materials in the two years preceding the due date for nominations. This lectureship underlines the fact that research is a team endeavor, and thus the main goal is to emphasize the importance of, and celebrate the contributions of, co-authors. This annual award was established by and is sponsored by Chemistry of Materials, alternating between the ACS Divisions of PMSE and Inorganic Chemistry.

2024 Award Winners

The 2024 award winners are Brigitte Holzer, TU Wien, and Markus Lunzer, UpNano GmbH, Austria. The award article “Beyond the Threshold: A Study of Chalcogenophene-Based Two-Photon Initiators” describes the design and synthesis of nine symmetric chalcogenophene-based molecules as two-photon absorption photoinitiators, demonstrating that selenium-containing derivatives, particularly TPA-S and TPA-BBS, exhibit superior reactivity and efficiency compared to commercial initiators. The materials are highly promising for low-power two-photon polymerization applications.

Professor Brigitte Holzer
Technische Universität Wien

Brigitte Holzer obtained her PhD in Technical Chemistry from TU Wien under the supervision of Prof. Johannes Fröhlich. In 2016, she joined the research group of Prof. Luisa Torsi as a postdoctoral researcher in the framework of a Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) fellowship at the University of Bari, Italy. She returned to TU Wien as a young principal investigator in 2017 and furthered her expertise with a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2023. In 2024, she was appointed Assistant Professor at the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry at TU Wien. Her team specializes on the development and characterization of (bio)molecular and biomimetic nanostructures.

Dr. Markus Lunzer
UpNano GmbH, Austria

Markus Lunzer leads the Materials & Application team at UpNano GmbH, Vienna, Austria. He joined UpNano in 2019, where he is responsible for two-photon resin development, print process engineering and research coordination. His team is involved in several national and international research projects in the fields of microfluidics, polymer replication on the micro-and nanoscale as well as electrical and biomedical applications. Previously, he was a researcher at TU Wien (Vienna, Austria), where he received his PhD (2020) in the field of photopolymerization and an MSc (2014) in Chemical Synthesis as well as a BSc (2012) in Technical Chemistry. Through his studies he has gained strong research experience in organic synthesis, instrumental analysis, photopolymerization, 3D-printing, as well as (bio-)materials and hydrogel design and characterization, with a special focus on two-photon materials processing.

Award Details

$2500 award to be shared between one or more lead authors is permitted. In addition, up to $2000 for travel and lodging costs may be shared by up to two of the winning article’s co-authors to attend the award symposium.

Nominations

Authors of a paper published in Chemistry of Materials can self-nominate their article for consideration for this award. Nomination packages should follow package submission guidelines.

Award Selection

The winning article will be selected by a committee of five individuals, consisting of the Editor-in-Chief or her designee from the Associate Editors of the journal, two Editorial Advisory Board members from the journal as appointed by the Editor-in-Chief, and the Chair and Past-Chair of the Division hosting the Award in a particular year.

Nominations and Award Process

Rules of Eligibility

Nominees are authors from the preceding past two years between January 1 and December 31. When sponsored by the PMSE Division, only soft matter papers are within scope of nominations. The main goal is to emphasize the importance of, and celebrate the contributions of, co-authors.

Nominations Package

The authors of a paper published in Chemistry of Materials can self-nominate their article for consideration for this award. The nomination package should include:

(1) a nomination letter written and signed by all co-authors describing the role of the team in the research described in the paper;
(2) CV of the lead author and the corresponding author;
(3) a copy of the article;
(4) indication of the division the paper is affiliated;
(5) An award citation of 15 words or less.

Nomination link will be posted when nomination window is open. Nominations will be accepted in the summer (typically June) and be announced on the Chemistry of Materials page and pmsedivision.org.

Award Selection Process

Award Announcement and Nature

The wining papers will be announced near the end of the year.

The recipients shall attend the Spring National ACS Meeting’s “Chemistry of Materials Lectureship and Best Paper Award Symposium”. This symposium shall be held in the spring following the year the winner is selected and will be hosted alternately by the PMSE and Inorganic Chemistry Divisions. This symposium will feature two award presentations by co-authors of the winning article, and talks by several invited speakers chosen by the Editor-in-Chief with the approval of the Divisions’ Chairs. When the symposium is hosted by PMSE, the award plaque will be presented at the PMSE Award Ceremony and Reception.

About Our Sponsor

Chemistry of Materials is devoted to the publication of original contributions on forefront, fundamental research at the interface of chemistry, chemical engineering, and materials science. Both theoretical and experimental studies which focus on the preparation or understanding of materials with unusual or useful properties are relevant.

Among the research areas of interest are solid-state chemistry, both inorganic and organic, and polymer chemistry, especially as directed to the development of materials with novel and/or useful optical, electrical, magnetic, catalytic, and mechanical properties, among others. Also of interest are fundamental issues relating to the fabrication and processing of electronic, magnetic, or optical materials and devices, including the generation of thin films by chemical vapor and solution deposition.

Other appropriate topics include the design, synthesis, investigation, and application of polymeric and molecular precursors to solid-state inorganic materials (including sol-gel chemistry and polymer pyrolysis) and the preparation and study of biomaterials, nanomaterials, composites, catalysts, liquid crystals, coatings, thin films and interfaces, and self-organized molecular assemblies.

Full List of Award Winners

2020 – Present

2024: Brigitte Holzer, Technische Universitaet Wien, and Markus Lunzer, UpNano GmbH
Beyond the Threshold: A Study of Chalcogenophene-Based Two-Photon Initiators

2022: Meng Li and Baolin Guo, Xi’an Jiaotong University | XJTU · Frontier Institute of Science and Technology (FIST)
Two-Pronged Strategy of Biomechanically Active and Biochemically Multifunctional Hydrogel Wound Dressing To Accelerate Wound Closure and Wound Healing

2021: Shruti Hariyani, University of Houston, and Jakoah Brgoch, University of Houston
Local Structure Distortion Induced Broad Band Emission in the All-Inorganic BaScO₂F:Eu²⁺ Perovskite

2020: Anthony D’Angelo, Ionic Materials Inc., and Matthew Panzer, Tufts University
Design of Stretchable and Self-Healing Gel Electrolytes via Fully Zwitterionic Polymer Networks in Solvate Ionic Liquids for Li-Based Batteries

2016 – 2019

2018: Darren Lipomi, Mohammad A. Alkhadra, and Samuel E. Root. “Quantifying the Fracture Behavior of Brittle and Ductile thin Films of Semiconducting Polymers,” Chemistry of Materials.

2017: Zhen Li, Mengjin Yang, Ji-Sang Park, Su-Huai Wei, Joseph J. Berry, and Kai Zhu. Chemistry of Materials.

2016: 28 (1), pp 284–292: “Stabilizing Perovskite Structures by Tuning Tolerance Factor: Formation of Formamidinium and Cesium Lead Iodide Solid-State Alloys”.