Wong Group

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer at the School of Chemistry, the University of Melbourne. I am a Chief Investigator and Research Theme leader in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science. I have been an ARC Future Fellow (2014-2018) and an ARENA Research Fellow (2011-2014) and lead investigator on a number of organic solar cell projects including collaborative research programs with institutes in Germany and USA. The core expertise of our group is in the design and synthesis of organic materials with applications in light harvesting and solar energy conversion. Further information on my research can be found at www.organotronics.com. 
I am a Chief Investigator and Research Theme leader in the recently established ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science.
My group’s research interest is not only in solar energy conversion but also more efficient energy use through next-generation devices as well as chemical sensing and fluorescence biological imaging.
We published two communication in Angewandte Chemie in 2017. One was on the topic of high efficiency organic solar cells and the other was on a new fluorescent material for a light harvesting window.
More information on Dr Wong can be found on the University Find an Expert webpage, the School of Chemistry webpage and his research group webpage.

Research

Design and synthesis of materials is a core component of chemical science since scientists learnt to transform substances using chemical reactions. Development of synthetic techniques, as well as methods of isolation and analysis, has meant that a huge range of chemicals and materials can be synthesised. From small organic molecules to nanoparticles to bulk substances, functional materials can now be produced with relative ease and accuracy. Despite the scientific advances, chemists are still at the very beginning in learning to design and build truly complex functional systems. For this, a mastery of molecular self-assembly is critical. Dr. Wallace Wong and his team are building organic dye assemblies to improve light harvesting efficiency of solar cells as well as increase sensitivity of chemical sensors. The group has the knowhow and capability to synthesise organic molecules and polymers with desirable properties.

Interests

Solar Energy
Solar Photovoltaics
Lighting and Displays
Chemical Sensing
Biological Imaging

Techniques

  • NMR
  • Mass spectrometry
  • Electron microscopy
  • Absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy

Group Members

Group Head

Dr Wallace Wong

Postdoctoral Fellows

Andrew Tilley

Anupama Gulur Srinivas

​Akhil Gupta

Research Assistants

Lachlan Wilson

Angela Keyte

PhD Students

Bolong Zhang

Nicolau Saker Neto

Can Gao

Quentin Hong

Sonam Saxena

Riley O’Shea

Na Wu

Masters Students

Jonathan Castillo

Honours Students

Felicity Draper

Joel Thia