Coskun Group

Prof. Ali Coskun received his MSc (2003) and PhD (2007) degrees in Chemistry in the same institution while carrying out his research activities under the supervision of Professor Engin U. Akkaya. He received prestigious METU Mustafa Parlar Foundation Thesis of the Year Award for his MSc and PhD theses. After his graduate studies, He joined to the laboratory of Prof. J. Fraser Stoddart as a postdoctoral research associate, first at University of California at Los Angeles and subsequently at Northwestern University, In 2012, He joined to the Graduate School of EEWS, Department of Chemistry in Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) as an assistant professor and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2015. In 2017, he moved to University Fribourg, Switzerland as a tenured Associate Professor.

• Research Interest

  Coskun Research Group at University of Fribourg conducts research in an interdisciplinary area of supramolecular and materials chemistry with an emphasis on design, synthesis and application of functional polymeric materials for (i) CO₂ capture, separation and conversion, (ii) energy storage applications, (iii) H₂ storage;

   

  i) For CO₂ capture and conversion, we are aiming to tackle an environmentally important matter of using cost-effective porous materials to selectively capture CO₂ from waste gas and convert into value-added products in order to alleviate its environmental effects.

   

  (ii) In the area of energy storage, we realize the potential of supramolecular chemistry to address various capacity decay pathways in Li-ion batteries. Along this line, we are developing organic electrode materials, and supramolecular polymeric materials for Li-S battery and Si anodes.

   

  (iii) Finally, graphene presents high π-surface area, excellent chemical, thermal, mechanical stability along with superior thermal conductivities, which are quite important parameters for designing efficient H₂ storage materials. We are developing dynamic porous materials incorporating either graphene or nanoribbons for high capacity H₂ storage.

• Selected Publications
  1. Byun, Y.; Coskun, A. Epoxy-functionalized Porous Organic Polymers via Diels-Alder Cycloaddition Reaction for Atmospheric Water Capture, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2018, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201800380
     
     
  2. Choi, S.; Kwon, T.-w.; Coskun, A.*; Choi, J. W.* Highly Elastic Binders Integrating Polyrotaxanes for Silicon Microparticle Anodes in Lithium Ion Batteries, Science, 2017, 357, 279.
     
     
  3. Kim, D.; Kim, D. W.; Buyukcakir, O.; Kim, M.-K.; Polychronopoulou, K.; Coskun, A. Highly Hydrophobic ZIF-8/carbon Nitride Foam with Hierarchical Porosity for Oil Capture and Chemical Fixation of CO2, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2017, 1700706.
     
     
  4. Je, S. H.; Buyukcakir, O.; Kim, D.; Coskun, A. Direct Utilization of Elemental Sulfur in the Synthesis of Microporous Polymers for Natural Gas Sweetening, Chem, 2016, 1, 482.
     
     
  5. Patel, H. A.; Je, S. H.; Park, J.; Chen, D. P.; Jung, Y.; Yavuz, C. T.; Coskun, A. Unprecedented High-Temperature CO2 Selectivity in N2-phobic Nanoporous Covalent Organic Polymers, Nature Commun., 2013, 4, 1357.