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.

Expertise

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Prize And Awards

UK & Ireland Green Gown Award 2022: Recipient; 8/11/2022
Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA): Recipient; 8/9/2022

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Publications

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Publications

Polymer photocatalysts with side-chain induced planarity for increased activity for sacrificial hydrogen production from water: Lyons Richard J, Yang Ying, McQueen Ewan, Luo Liang, Cooper Andrew I, Zwijnenburg Martijn A, Sprick Reiner Sebastian; Advanced Energy Materials Vol 14 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202303680
From StrathCEKO to StrathCAN : building a community of climate education ambassadors from the bottom up in a higher education institution: Strachan Scott, Quirke William, Sprick Reiner Sebastian, Gallou Eirini, Collins Robert, Faulkner Suzanne; 11th Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (2023)
Making the connections : physical and electric interactions in biohybrid photosynthetic systems: Yang Ying, Liu Lu-Ning, Tian Haining, Cooper Andrew I, Sprick Reiner Sebastian; Energy & Environmental Science Vol 16, pp. 4305-4319 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1039/D3EE01265D
Impact of interfaces, and nanostructure on the performance of conjugated polymer photocatalysts for hydrogen production from water: McQueen Ewan, Bai Yang, Sprick Reiner Sebastian; Nanomaterials Vol 12 (2022); https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12234299
Why do sulfone-containing polymer photocatalysts work so well for sacrificial hydrogen evolution from water?: Hillman Sam A J, Sprick Reiner Sebastian, Pearce Drew, Woods Duncan J, Sit Wai-Yu, Shi Xingyuan, Cooper Andrew I, Durrant James R, Nelson Jenny; Journal of the American Chemical Society Vol 144, pp. 19382-19395 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c07103
Linear conjugated polymer photocatalysts with various linker units for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water: Liu Lunjie, Kochman Michał A, Zhao Wei, Zwijnenburg Martijn A, Sprick Reiner Sebastian; Chemical Communications Vol 58, pp. 10639-10642 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1039/d2cc03810b

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Research

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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.