University of 葫芦影业 polymer chemist Professor Steve Armes will receive the 2024 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science (JCIS) Darsh Wasan Award for his outstanding contributions to research at the interface between polymer chemistry and colloid science.
Prof Armes has made important contributions to various research areas, including colloidal nanocomposite particles, block copolymer self-assembly, polymerization-induced self-assembly, Pickering (nano)emulsions and foams, latex syntheses, polymer brushes, and conducting polymer particles.
In total, he has published more than 725 papers, which have received almost 50,000 citations.
Announcing the award, the JCIS editor-in-chief, Prof. Martin Malmsten, said that Prof Armes鈥 research is characterised by combining fundamental research questions with ambitious and systematic methodological approaches, while aiming for potential industrial applications.
鈥淎 striking example of this is the technology he developed using block copolymer micelles as templates for in situ deposition of silica to produce well-defined hollow silica particles,鈥 said JCIS.
鈥淭his technology was subsequently sold to , who used this approach to prepare high-quality anti-reflection coatings for glass covers on solar cells. This enables three to four per cent more sunlight to be captured per solar cell. More than 250 million of these solar cells have been installed worldwide, providing more than 70 gigawatts of renewable energy.鈥
Prof Armes was also commended for educating the next generation of scientists in his field. He has supervised 67 PhD students and 74 postdoctoral scientists. Moreover, 25 former Armes group members have gained independent academic positions in China, Japan, France, Australia, Spain, Italy, Greece, Argentina, Turkey, and the UK.
Prof Armes has been previously awarded the 2021 Sir Eric Rideal Lectureship, the 2020 RSC Soft Matter and Biophysical Chemistry Award, the 2020 SCI Innovation and Formulation Award, the 2017 ECIS-Solvay Prize, the 2014 RSC Interdisciplinary Prize, and the 2016 DSM Materials Science Award. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014.
He will receive his latest award at the 13th International Colloids Conference in Sitges on June 10, when he will present a keynote lecture.