At the 3rd  "Solar Technologies Go Hybrid Workshop"* in Wildbad Kreuth Valentin Kunz, Doctoral Candidate at the Würthner Group, received one of three poster prizes.

The poster entitled „Self-assembled Perylene Bisimide Tetrahedra as Light-harvesting Host Molecules“ by Peter Frischmann, Valentin Kunz, Kingsuk Mahata and Frank Würthner shows the synthesis of two supramolecular tetrahedra through the coordinative connection of perylene bisimide dyes via metal ions (Zn²⁺, Fe²⁺). Moreover the encapsulation of fullerenes and perylene by these tetrahedral hosts could be demonstrated. The strong host-guest binding as well as interesting absorption and fluorescence make these supramolecular systems promising candidates for photocatalysis applications.

MSc. Chemist Valentin Kunz joined the Würthner Group in June 2013. His work is focusing at metallo supramolecular chemistry, photocatalysis and oxidative watersplitting.

*SolTech is a 50 million euro interdisciplinary project initiated by the Free State of Bavaria to explore innovative concepts for converting solar energy into electricity and non-fossil fuels. Research by chemists and physicists at five different Bavarian Universities (Bayreuth, TU Munich, LMU Munich, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, and Julius-Maximilians University Würzburg) will be funded. Since its official start in October 2012, the Workshop in Wildbad Kreuth has been the third meeting of its kind.

Find more information about the third SolTech Workshop in a short article by SolTech Coordinator Prof. Dirk Guldi (FAU) here.