Current

Current potdocs

Suo Tu

PhD/Postdoc: PhD in physics, Technische Universität München/Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven

Project: Physcis and Polymer Electronics

Suo Tu was born and raised in China. He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in Materials Science and developed a strong foundation in materials processing, microstructure control, and related engineering principles. Prior to his doctoral studies, he gained practical research experience as a research assistant at Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt in Germany. He later earned his Dr. rer. nat. in Physics from Technische Universität München, Germany, and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the same institution. He further expanded his international research profile as an RTH-ITF Fellow at The University of Hong Kong. He specializes in leveraging advanced characterization technologies, particularly synchrotron radiation light sources, to explore new frontiers in polymer materials. His primary research thrust involves establishing correlations between morphological structures and the dynamics of charge carriers in polymer materials and developing advanced materials and systems. In his leisure time, he enjoys watching TikTok and playing table tennis

Xiaoyan Qing

Email: xiaoyan.qing@kuleuven.be

PhD/Postdoc: PhD in Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven/Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven

Project: Temperature-responsive hydrogel memristors

Google Scholar

Xiaoyan Qing was born in Henan, China. She received her Bachelor's degree in Materials Chemistry from Nanchang Hangkong University in 2015, followed by a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering from Wuhan University of Technology in 2017. In 2018, she joined MDPI as an Assistant Editor. In 2025, she earned her PhD in Chemical Engineering at KU Leuven under the supervision of Prof. Pedro Fardim and Prof. Irene Taurino. During her PhD, she was awarded internal funding from KU Leuven, which supported the initiation of her postdoctoral research in the group of Prof. Francisco Molina-Lopez at KU Leuven. Her research focuses on the design and characterization of multifunctional hydrogel materials, exploring their versatile applications in wearable sensors and bio-inspired neuromorphic computing.

Shubhradip Guchait

Email: shubhradip.guchait@kuleuven.be

PhD/Postdoc: PhD in Physical Chemistry, CNRS-University of Strasbourg/ Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven.

Project: Organic Thermoelectrics

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shubhradip-guchait-53a5871a2/

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ioix4xEAAAAJ&hl=en

Shubhradip Guchait was born in Kolkata, India. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, one of the top 10 colleges in India according to the NIRF rankings. He then completed his Master’s degree in Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar, having qualified through the prestigious JAM examination. He pursued his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the Institut Charles Sadron, CNRS (University of Strasbourg), France, as a Marie Curie ITN Fellow under the HORATES project. His doctoral research focused on the in-plane alignment, structural control and doping mechanisms of polymer semiconductor films for thermoelectric applications. Additionally, in recognition of his work, Shubhradip received the Young Researcher Award at the EMRS 2024 conference. He moved to Belgium in April 2025 to work as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Francisco Molina-Lopez at KU Leuven. His goal is to optimize high-performance organic thermoelectric generators for efficient conversion of waste heat into electricity.

Juhyung (Jay) Park

Email: jay.park@kuleuven.be

PhD/Postdoc: PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University / Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven.

Project: Organic Thermoelectrics

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juhyung-park-a44619201/

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VRxeV5YAAAAJ&hl=en

Juhyung (Jay) Park was born in the Republic of Korea (South Korea). He completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Seoul (UOS) in 2017 and 2019, respectively. He then earned his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2023 from Seoul National University (SNU) under the supervision of Professor Jeonghun Kwak. During his PhD, he was awarded a prestigious grant from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea for his research on wearable organic thermoelectric generators, a grant given to only 300 recipients nationwide. After serving one year as a post-doctoral researcher at SNU, he moved to Belgium in October 2024 to work as a post-doctoral researcher in the group of Professor Francisco Molina-Lopez at KU Leuven. In Feburary 2025 he has been awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral fellowship. His research has focused on molecular doping, charge transport physics, and the structure-property relationships of conjugated polymers, as well as organic thermoelectric devices for sustainable energy solutions. His ultimate goal is to extend the fundamentals of these organic thermoelectric materials and devices to realize fully self-powered IoT devices and microelectronics.

Altynay Kaidarova

Email: Who is Who, LinkedIn, Google Scholar

PhD/Postdoc: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)

Project: Printed organic thermoelectric generators

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Altynay Kaidarova was born in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, in 1991. In 2010, she received the prestigious Bolashak International Scholarship, which enabled her to pursue a foundation program at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. She went on to major in Electronic and Communication Engineering at the University of Liverpool (UK), graduating in 2014 with a first-class degree.

In 2022, she earned her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. After completing her Ph.D., she was awarded the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctral Fellowship and the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) fellowship for the BEST-TEC project, allowing her to continue her postdoctoral research in the Francisco Molina-Lopez Research group at KU Leuven (Belgium).

Her research focuses on the design, fabrication, and characterization of printed, low-cost organic/inorganic electronics, sensors, and actuators using additive manufacturing techniques. She is passionate about developing new materials and processes for energy harvesting and storage on large-area and curved surfaces. She also seeks to apply her multidisciplinary research to new applications in autonomous and wearable systems for biomedicine and the Internet of Marine Life.

Michael Ng

Email: Michael.Ng@kuleuven.be

PhD/Postdoc: PhD in Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology / Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven.

Project: Printed Organic Thermoelectric Generators

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-ng-b13115145/

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sjbJScoAAAAJ&hl=en

Michael Ng was born and raised in New Zealand. He completed his Bachelors in Chemistry and Physics at Victoria University of Wellington in 2014, followed by a Masters in Physics in 2017. He then completed his PhD in Chemistry in 2021 at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in the Halpert Group. Afterward, he briefly returned to New Zealand, where he worked in the Materials Team at GNS Science in 2022. His previous areas of research have been focused on colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, perovskite materials, LEDs, solar cells, optoelectronic devices, photothermal materials, and renewable energy materials.