Christian Sproncken

PhD student

Nationality: Dutch
Undergraduate Institution: Eindhoven University of Technology
Graduate Institution: Eindhoven University of Technology
Email: c.c.m.sproncken@tue.nl
Phone: +31 40 247 5560
Office: CE 1.44

Sub-group(s):

Biography:
I completed my Bachelor thesis, under supervision of Dr. Catarina Esteves, on the topic of low-friction hydrophilic coatings for anti-fouling applications. Then, I joined the group of Dr. Ilja Voets for Master's thesis. During the project I studied the co-assembly of complex coacervate core micelles with a poly(vinyl alcohol) corona. We showed that these PVA-based systems retain the polymer's well-known ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI) activity. Afterwards, I moved to Frankfurt for a three-month internship at the Clariant Innovation Center in the lab of Dr. Jesus Pitarch Lopez, where I studied the effect of additives on the drying process of waterbased dispersion paints using a newly developed method. To this end, I helped develop a reliable and reproducible testing methods that can be performed on a common rheometer. After my graduation, I returned to the Institute of Complex Molecular Systems in October 2017 to start a PhD project under supervision of Dr. Ilja Voets. Here, I will move forward with the project we started up last year, to use polymers working towards anti-icing materials.

Research interest:
My research project focuses on studying the assembly of polyelectrolytes into complexes in solution, as well as on surfaces. As such, we aim to design new functional materials such as responsive coatings, built up from polyelectrolytes. Furthermore, we look into controlling their assembly in time using autonomous pH-controlling reaction networks.

Selected Publications: