Dr Sebastian Sprick

Strathclyde Chancellor's Fellow

Pure and Applied Chemistry

Personal statement

I obtained my PhD in 2013 from The University of Manchester under the supervision of Prof. Michael Turner working on N-heterocyclic palladium carbene catalysts for polytriarylamine synthesis. After this I moved to the University of Liverpool working with Prof. Andrew Cooper as a postdoctoral research associate on soluble conjugated microporous polymers (C-PIMs) and water splitting using conjugated microporous polymers as photocatalysts. In 2015 started my new role as a Research Lead within the group leading the photocatalysis research. In 2020 I started my independent career as a Strathclyde Chancellor’s Fellow.

Publications

Organic materials as photocatalysts for water splitting: Bai Yang, Hippalgaonkar Kedar, Sprick Reiner Sebastian; Journal of Materials Chemistry A Vol 9, pp. 16222-16232 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1039/D1TA03710B
Photocatalytic polymers of intrinsic microporosity for hydrogen production from water: Bai Yang, Wilbraham Liam, Gao Hui, Clowes Rob, Yang Haofan, Zwijnenburg Martijn A, Cooper Andrew I, Sprick Reiner Sebastian; Journal of Materials Chemistry A (2021); https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ta03098a
Effect of substituting non-polar chains with polar chains on the structural dynamics of small organic molecule and polymer semiconductors: Guilbert Anne AY, Parr Zachary S, Kreouzis Theo, Woods Duncan J, Sprick Reiner Sebastian, Abrahams Isaac, Nielsen Christian B, Zbiri Mohamed; Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics Vol 23, pp. 7462-7471 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cp00670c
Probing dynamics of water mass transfer in organic porous photocatalyst water-splitting materials by neutron spectroscopy: Zbiri Mohamed, Aitchison Catherine M, Sprick Reiner Sebastian, Cooper Andrew I, Guilbert Anne A Y; Chemistry of Materials Vol 33, pp. 1363-1372 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.0c04425
Photocatalytic syngas production using conjugated organic polymers: Fu Zhiwei, Vogel Anastasia, Zwijnenburg Martijn A, Cooper Andrew I, Sprick Reiner Sebastian; Journal of Materials Chemistry A Vol 9, pp. 4291-4296 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TA09613J
Bottom-up wet-chemical synthesis of a two-dimensional porous carbon material with high supercapacitance using a cascade coupling/cyclization route: Xu Yongjie, Sprick Reiner Sebastian, Brownbill Nick J, Blanc Frédéric, Li Qingyin, Ward John W, Ren Shijie, Cooper Andrew I; Journal of Materials Chemistry A Vol 9, pp. 3303-3308 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ta11649a

More publications

Research interests

The goal of my group is to address challenges in sustainability. In particular we are aiming to make so-called ‘solar fuels’ (e.g. hydrogen and carbon monoxide) only using renewable resources and sunlight. For this we make organic materials that act as photocatalysts to drive reactions, such as water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction. We utilise a range of different materials, such as small oligomers, polymers, conjugated microporous polymers and conjugated organic frameworks. The modularity and structural diversity of the available building blocks allows for excellent fine tuning of the properties of these organic materials thus optimising their performance. Finally, we are interested in large scale application and working towards making demonstrator devices.

Professional activities

Invited contribution: 'Solar fuel production from water using polymer photocatalysts', 1st International Virtual Conference on Emerging Porous Materials (ePorMat-21), Bhubaneswar, India: Speaker; 29/7/2021
External Examiner for PhD viva at Bergische Universität Wuppertal: Examiner; 6/7/2021
Invited departmental seminar: 'Conjugated Materials for Solar Water Splitting', Department of Chemistry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden: Speaker; 17/6/2021
Invited departmental seminar: 'Conjugated Materials for Solar Water Splitting'. Department of Physical & Earth Sciences, Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley, South Africa: Speaker; 22/4/2021

More professional activities

Projects

Nickel and Palladium bearing Conjugated Polymers and Spectator Ligands for Photo-Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction: Sprick, Seb (Principal Investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 28-Jan-2022
Development of linear polymers for photoanodic water oxidation (International Exchanges NSFC): Sprick, Seb (Principal Investigator); 30-Jan-2021 - 29-Jan-2023
Core-shell conjugated microporous polymers for photocatalytic bacteria inactivation: Sprick, Seb (Principal Investigator); 08-Jan-2021 - 07-Jan-2022
Photoelectrochemical carbon dioxide reduction with conjugated polymers: Sprick, Seb (Principal Investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2021

More projects

Address

Pure and Applied Chemistry
Thomas Graham Building

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