Bob C. Schroeder, born in Luxembourg, received both his BSc (2008) and MSc (2010) in Chemistry from the Free University of Brussels (ULB) under the guidance of Prof. Yves Geerts. Afterwards, he moved to Imperial College London to carry out his doctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. Iain McCulloch. His PhD research focused on the synthesis and study of pi-conjugated materials and polymers for applications in organic electronic devices (i.e. organic photovoltaics (OPV), organic field effect transistors (OFET), organic light emitting diodes, etc.). His research led to a better understanding of the materials’ optoelectronic properties and their dependence on polymer chain substituents and heteroatom substitutions (group 14 and 16 elements). For his PhD work, Bob got awarded the “FNR award for Outstanding PhD Thesis 2014” by the National Research Fund of Luxembourg for a “PhD dissertation of outstanding scientific quality”.
After completion of his PhD studies (2013), Bob conducted a short 6 months EPSRC sponsored postdoctoral stay at Imperial College London to develop new tellurium containing polymers for applications in organic spin transport electronics, a rapidly emerging new research field, and he explored the commercialisation feasibility of this technology. He then moved to the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University (2014) as a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) in the group of Prof. Zhenan Bao. His work at Stanford University focused on the development of self-healing conjugated polymers for stretchable skin-like electronics. Additional research interests aimed at the synthesis of high-performing semiconducting polymers suitable for large area device fabrication via slot-die coating, respectively inkjet printing.
In Spring 2016, Bob joined the Materials Research Institute and the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary University of London as an Academic Fellow, and Principal Investigator. In early 2018, Bob relocated his research group to the Department of Chemistry at University College London, to take-up an appointment as Lecturer, and where he is currently an Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow. The group’s current research focuses on the development of organic thermoelectric materials, and supramolecular interactions in conjugated polymers.
Schroeder Research Group 