Who I am

Dr. Hatice Mutlu serves as junior professor at the Haute de Alsace University (F). She is an internationally recognized scientist, who earned a master’s degree in chemistry at the Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, Instanbul (TUR), a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. She has also served as CNRS Post-Doctoral Fellow in Strasbourg (F) and is affiliated senior researcher at the Soft Matter Materials Laboratory, QUT, Brisbane. She has also been awarded the “Polymer Chemistry Emerging Investigators 2020″ by the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK. Her main fields of interest include biomimetic synthetic molecules, dynamic photoresponsive single chain nanoparticles (towards synthetic proteins/biomimetic adhesives), spatially resolved dynamic covalent polymer surfaces, self-healing materials, self-reporting materials, macromolecular responsive nano-containers, sulfur-based polymers, redox polymers, polymers for energy (batteries), (bio)degradable polymers. At the MIPOL2024 congress, Hatice will give a lecture on “Main-chain macromolecular photoswitches”. What are photoswitches? Photoswitches are photochromic molecules, i.e., that show a reversible change in optical properties (color) through the action of light. Photoswitch can indeed change geometry and chemical properties if subjected to electromagnetic irradiation. Photoswitches can tune charge transportation under the effect of light stimuli or store sun energy or be self-healable materials. Hatice states that incorporating photo-responsive units directly into the polymer backbone will yield more significant effects on the material properties. If you are interested to know more on this topic, read the abstract of her presentation.