IEM Distinguished Lecturers Seminar: Wavelength-Resolved 3D Printing
*** Drinks and pizza at 11:45 in the lobby of BM 5202 ***
This is a special joint seminar organized by IEM and ISIC, as part of a two-part lecture series. The second lecture will take place on November 5.
Abstract
Bio
Christopher Barner-Kowollik is a leading expert in photochemistry, exploiting precision photochemical concepts for advanced soft matter material synthesis, including for light-driven 3D printing. He and his team developed a wide array of multi-colour photochemical reactions modes and pioneered wavelength-resolved photochemical action plots, which have demonstrated wavelength-dependent reactivity that is often mismatched with molecular absorptivity. He currently leads research teams at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). After a PhD in Göttingen, he held leadership roles in Australia and Germany, including at UNSW and KIT, before establishing QUT’s Soft Matter Materials Laboratory. In 2026, he was appointed Institute Director and Alexander von Humboldt Professor at the KIT. His work has earned numerous international awards, including the UK Macro Medal (2020), the European Polymer Federation Prize (2022), the Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Prize (2023), and Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Professorship (2025).
This is a special joint seminar organized by IEM and ISIC, as part of a two-part lecture series. The second lecture will take place on November 5.
Abstract
Photoinitiators drive light-triggered polymerization, enabling applications from coatings to microelectronics and additive manufacturing. However, disparate experimental conditions and a lack of standardized protocols make it difficult to directly compare photoinitiator performance across photopolymerization and 3D printing systems. We herein discuss photochemical reactivity relating to additive manufacturing on three levels: Photolytic cleavage, photopolymerization kinetics and 3D printing performance. As a demonstration, we couple a stereolithography set-up with a tuneable monochromatic laser to generate a 3D Printed Action Plot (3D-PAP), demonstrating that although printing reactivity does not fully mirror solution-based wavelength dependent curing, curing at longer wavelengths yields more efficient printing and superior mechanical properties, consistent with reactivity trends seen in solution. We suggest that a hierarchical, comparable dataset approach may offer quantitative metrics to enable structure–reactivity analysis and data-driven discovery of next-generation photoinitiators and photoresin formulations.
Christopher Barner-Kowollik is a leading expert in photochemistry, exploiting precision photochemical concepts for advanced soft matter material synthesis, including for light-driven 3D printing. He and his team developed a wide array of multi-colour photochemical reactions modes and pioneered wavelength-resolved photochemical action plots, which have demonstrated wavelength-dependent reactivity that is often mismatched with molecular absorptivity. He currently leads research teams at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). After a PhD in Göttingen, he held leadership roles in Australia and Germany, including at UNSW and KIT, before establishing QUT’s Soft Matter Materials Laboratory. In 2026, he was appointed Institute Director and Alexander von Humboldt Professor at the KIT. His work has earned numerous international awards, including the UK Macro Medal (2020), the European Polymer Federation Prize (2022), the Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Prize (2023), and Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Professorship (2025).
Practical information
- General public
- Free