You are cordially invited to attend the seminar organized by the Department of Chemistry.
Title: Porous Organic Polymers: From Molecular Design to Functional Materials for Energy Storage and Environmental Remediations
Speaker: Dr. Onur Büyükçakır, Izmir Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry, Izmir, Turkey
Date: 25/11/2025, Tuesday
Time: 12:30 (Turkiye Time)
Place: SBZ-14
Porous Organic Polymers: From Molecular Design to Functional Materials for Energy Storage and Environmental Remediations Porous organic polymers (POPs), as an emerging class of porous materials, have garnered significant interest in recent years due to their high surface areas, tunable porosity, low density, robust physicochemical stability, and diverse chemical structures. Our research group employs a molecular engineering approach to design and synthesize POPs with tailored properties for applications in energy storage and environmental remediation.
This talk will detail the construction of functional POPs using shape-persistent 3D macromolecules as building blocks. This approach offers not only control over surface area and porosity in amorphous polymeric networks but also tailored adsorption properties for CO2 and iodine capture.1 This talk also introduces new linkage chemistries for the synthesis of porous organic polymers, utilizing reaction strategies that are not typically part of classical organic synthetic chemistry.2 Finally, I will talk about the molecular-level directed redox-active POPs as metal-free electrode materials for metal-ion batteries.3 These electrode materials not only offer high sustainability and low cost but also provide enhanced capacity, high rate performance, and ultralong cycle life.4
References:
Short Biography of the Speaker: Dr. Buyukcakir is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Izmir Institute of Technology (IZTECH). His research focuses on the design and synthesis of functional materials for applications in clean energy, sensing, gas storage, and environmental remediation. Dr. Buyukcakir obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Nanotechnology from Bilkent University, Turkey, where he studied supramolecular chemistry under the guidance of Prof. Engin Umut Akkaya. During his Ph.D., he investigated fluorescent chemosensors and explored applications in molecular logic devices. He further expanded his expertise in mechanically interlocked molecules at Northwestern University (USA) under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Prof. J. Fraser Stoddart and Prof. Jean-Pierre Sauvage. Dr. Buyukcakir pursued postdoctoral research at KAIST (South Korea) with Prof. Ali Coskun, focusing on new strategies for functional organic/hybrid materials, and at the Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials-UNIST (South Korea) under Prof. Rodney S. Ruoff, specializing in post-functionalization of low-dimensional carbon materials. The Buyukcakir group at IZTECH conducts interdisciplinary research in the areas of synthetic, supramolecular, and materials chemistry, primarily focusing on designing new functional organic/inorganic hybrid materials for sustainable energy and environmental applications.