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Role in the Centre
As a chemist, Christopher Barner-Kowollik fuses advanced synthetic macromolecular photochemistry with deep investigations into the fundamental understanding of reaction mechanisms and kinetics. He and his team are perhaps best known for discovering the mismatch between chromophore absorptivity and wavelength resolved quantum yields, overturning an over 200 year-old photochemical paradigm. Within QUT’s Centre for Materials Science, Christopher and his team use these deep photochemical insights in synergistic, antagonistic, cooperative and orthogonal multi-colour photochemistry, by contributing to research programs that pioneer advanced macromolecular photoresists for 3D laser lithography, which enable sub-diffraction 3D printing as well as the design of microstructures with outer-field responsive mechanical properties. His team’s vast array of precision red-shifted photochemical transformations are exploited in the Centre’s context for the construction of sequence-defined molecular barcodes for remote optical readout, finding applications in object tagging and identification as well as new materials concepts, such as light stabilized dynamic materials (LSDMs) or photochemically gated single chain nanoparticles. Similarly, his multi-colour photochemical synthetic methodologies are developed into powerful tools for spatially resolved surface structuring in 2 and 3D, underpinned by advanced analytical methods such as ToF-SIMS. Christopher is particularly passionate about using advanced photochemical transformation methodologies developed in his research endeavours within the Centre for Materials Science for solving applications problems across QUT’s research centres.
Short Biography
A graduate in chemistry from Göttingen University, Germany, Christopher joined the University of New South Wales in early 2000 rising to lead the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design in 2006 as one of its directors.
He returned to Germany to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2008, where he established and led a German Research Council funded Centre of Excellence in soft matter synthesis and served as the Head of School of the School of Chemical Technology and Polymer Chemistry at the KIT. Following a period as an adjunct professor and collaborator with QUT, he moved to QUT in early 2017 and founded QUT’s Soft Matter Materials Laboratory as its inaugural Head, leading it to emerge as one of the world’s premier macromolecular laboratories.
Over his 24-year career to date, he has attracted over $52M in funding from the German Research Council, the Helmholtz Association, the Australian Research Council and the private sector. He has developed and supported highly collaborative large teams, often across continents. He authored over 780 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals (cited over 50 000 times) and was plenary and invited speaker at over 300 conferences. Christopher’s research achievements have been recognised by an array of national and international awards including the coveted Centenary Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Erwin Schrödinger Award of the German Helmholtz Association, the Belgian Polymer Medal, the United Kingdom Macro Medal , the David Craig Medal of the Australian Academy of Science, as well as national awards by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (HG Smith Medal, Rennie Medal), the Royal Society of New South Wales (David Edgeworth Medal), an ARC Professorial Fellowship and an ARC Laureate Fellowship. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Since early 2020, Christopher leads – in addition to his research role – QUT’s entire research portfolio as Senior Deputy-Vice Chancellor and Vice-President (Research).
Articles selection
How Molecular Architecture Defines Quantum Yields
Pashley-Johnson, F.; Munaweera, R.; Houssain, S. I.; Gauci, S.; Delafresnaye, L.; Frisch, H.; O’Mara, M. L.; Du Prez, F. E.; Barner-Kowollik, C. Nat. Commun. 2024, 15, 6033
Photochemical Action Plots Reveal the Fundamental Mismatch between Absorptivity and Photochemical Reactivity
Walden, S. L.; Carroll, J. A.; Unterreiner, A.-N.; Barner-Kowollik, C. Adv. Sci. 2024, 11, 2306014.
Quantification of Synergistic Two-Color Covalent Bond Formation
Hobich, J., Feist, F., Werner, P., Carrol, J.A., Fuhr, O., Blasco, E., Mutlu, H., Barner-Kowollik, C. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, e202413530.
Photo- and Halochromism of Spiropyran-based Main-chain Polymers
Thai, L. D.; Kammerer, J. A.; Mutlu, H.; Barner-Kowollik, C. Chem. Sci. 2024, 15, 3687-3697.
Colorful 3D Printing: A Critical Feasibility Analysis of Multi-Wavelength Additive Manufacturing
Ehrmann K, Barner-Kowollik C, 2023, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 145 (45), p24438-24446
Cooperative Network Formation via Two-Colour Light-Activated -Orthogonal Chromophores
Eren T, Feist F, Ehrmann K, Barner-Kowollik C, 2023, Angewandte Chemie – International Edition, 62 (36)