Stepping towards a sustainable polymer age!
The “Sustainable Polymer Chemistry“ (SPC) Chair is embedded in the Cluster “Molecules and Materials” at the Universiteit Twente.
With a major focus on the design and formulation of macromolecules, the interdisciplinary SPC team focuses on the development of new sustainable polymeric materials. SPC integrates research of its preceding Chair “Materials Science and Technology of Polymers”.
The SPC group develops novel synthesis strategies and polymeric materials to tackle different fundamental questions. The main focus of the group is novel (bio)degradable and chemically modified biobased materials, primarily based on phosphorus-containing polymers or biopolymers, such as starch, cellulose, or lignin.
We combine several state-of-the-art technologies to produce smart materials for drug delivery, agriculture, adhesive or separation technologies, flame retardants, and optics – always based on the molecular control of macroscopic properties.
The expertise of our interdisciplinary team combines modern organic and inorganic chemistry with precision polymer synthesis and colloidal formulations (miniemulsions, reactions at the interface, etc.), polymer brushes, polymer processing (foaming, 3D printing, etc.) with molecular characterization and precise imaging techniques (especially atomic force microscopy) to complement the materials preparations.
Find out more about the SPC team, possible openings, and collaboration requests, contact us directly or our secretariat via spc-tnw@utwente.nl.
Full professors
Prof. Dr. Frederik Wurm (Chair) – main expertise polymer chemistry, biobased and biodegradable polymers.
Prof. Dr. Julius Vancso (emeritus chair) – main expertise in structure-property-applications relationships of engineering polymers, materials chemistry of stimulus-responsive macromolecules, surface engineering, and macromolecular nanotechnology.
Associate professor:
Dr. Sissi de Beer - Polymer Brushes and Coatings
Dr. Mark Hempenius – Organic and Polymer Synthesis
Assistant professors
Dr. Joost Duvigneau – Materials chemistry, engineering, and processing of advanced (sustainable) thermoplastics, (nano)particles and (nano)composites
Dr. Hubert Gojzewski - Micro- and nanostructured polymers, sustainable materials for 3D printing, methods for quantitative atomic force microscopy