Organised by Singapore A*STAR’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), in partnership with other A*STAR institutes, research organisations and industries, the event, themed around molecular materials, welcomes leading researchers in chemistry, materials science, physics, biology, medicine, engineering etc. with the intention of developing cross-disciplinary and collaborative research ideas on the following themes:

1) New Catalysts and Catalytic Science

From fundamentals to application, this session covers all the research fields related to catalysis, represented by the use of catalysis for chemical synthesis, energy application, and green chemistry as well as development of new type of catalysts and catalytic reactions. It also includes mechanistic understanding of the catalysis experimentally and theoretically.

Topics include but are not limited to

• Catalysis in chemical synthesis
• Catalysis in energy transformation
• Environmental catalysis
• Biocatalysis
• Nanomaterials in catalysis
• Novel catalysts and catalytic reactions
• Structure and reaction mechanism
• Theoretical modeling

2) Soft Materials for Cosmetic and Health Care

From fundamentals to application, this session covers all the research fields related to soft materials for cosmetic and health care, represented by application of soft materials for rheology modification, improvement of deposition of active ingredients, encapsulation and delivery of active ingredients of cosmetic and species (drugs, DNA, RNA and cell) for health care, beauty care, and bioimaging. It also includes the fundamental understanding of the performance of soft materials for cosmetic and health care experimentally and theoretically.

Topics include but are not limited to

• Soft materials for rheology modification
• Soft materials for deposition of active species
• Soft materials for encapsulation of active ingredients of cosmetics
• Soft materials for drug/DNA/RNA/cell delivery
• Soft materials for beauty care
• Soft materials for bioimaging
• Soft materials colloids science

3) Electrochemical Energy Conversion, Storage Materials & Technology

It will provide an international forum to discuss recent progress in electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices. Papers are solicited on fundamental and applied aspects of all types of batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells and other new energy storage and conversion systems including aqueous, non-aqueous, polymer electrolyte, ionic liquid, and solid electrolyte systems.

Topics include but are not limited to

• New materials and designs
• New characterisation technologies
• Synthesis and characterisation
• Materials processing and engineering
• Structure and reaction mechanism
• Performance studies
• Durability and safety
• Theoretical modeling

4) Materials for Advanced Sensors and Transducers

Smart functional materials with structure controlled at nano-scale and molecular level often exhibit notable and even extraordinary responses to the presence of various stimuli or to the changes happening in the environment. They possess many inherent and unique signal and energy conversion mechanisms, which are particularly valuable for realizing high performance sensing, detection, and energy transduction functions. The advanced sensors and transducers derived from the materials with the structures appropriately tailored at nano-scale and molecular level can be applied to meet the increasing demands for condition monitoring, health care, system intelligence, precision engineering, and the development of various sustainable technologies. Contributions on the smart materials and materials–critical sensors and transducers are invited.

Topics include but are not limited to

• Smart materials with signal and energy conversion functions;
• Nano-scale and molecular structures with responses to stimuli and ambient changes;
• Sensing and actuation mechanisms in materials;
• Ferroics, piezoelectrics, fluorescences, plasmonics, and phase transitions and THz in smart materials;
• Applications of materials for sensing, detection, actuation, and energy transduction;
• Materials-critical sensors, actuators, and transducers, and their applications.

5) Lanthanide-doped Luminescence Nanomaterials

6) Interface Engineering for Devices

View schedule of Molecular Materials Meeting (M3): 3rd M3 Program – 14 Jan 13.pdf