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Karl Börjesson
Professor
Department of Chemistry & Molecular BiologyAbout Karl Börjesson
I am leading a group in which we construct molecules or molecular based systems that are able to perform highly specialized functions. The research questions are of fundamental nature, and competence of the group involves both the synthesis of complex molecules and the photophysical/electrical characterization of the molecular based systems. Most often we are working with photoactive organic molecules and even though each molecule is able to perform a task on its own, our aim is not to use the single molecules but ensembles of molecules to create materials for the future. For more information on individual research projects see below, and for the most recent work see my google scholar page.
We are requiting
We are currently looking for a new Phd student. Read more and apply here.
Research
Strong exciton-photon coupling: Chemistry has had profound impact on society during the last two centuries. From mass production of drugs and pigments, to the invention of plastics, and more recently with the introduction of molecular electronics. However, some basic physical laws govern possible utilizations. It is therefore of great importance to examine how to bend these laws, how to bypass them and by so doing open up new opportunities for novel applications. A common way of envision the creation of molecular orbitals is through the hybridization of atomic orbitals. It is perhaps less known that electronic states in molecules and atoms can hybridize with light or vacuum fields to create hybrid light matter states. So called strong exciton-photon coupling occurs when light-matter interactions are large, and it is manifested through new hybrid light-matter states called cavity polaritons. Our aim is to understand how polaritons interacts with more normal molecular states. For instance, we have shown that strong light-matter coupling enables selective manipulation of energy levels. By so doing allowing for a singlet ground and first excited state, thus challenge Hund’s rule and change how the basic rules of electronic state energetics are envisioned. This enables channelling of all excitation energy, irrespectively of origin, through a singlet pathway, which is of great technological importance in organic electronics.
Resonance energy transfer: Excitation energy transfer through dipole-dipole interactions can efficiently mediate energy between molecules at fairly large distances. In this so called Förster type energy transfer the transition dipole moments on the energy donor and acceptor couple so that excitation energy is transferred between the two molecules. The efficiency of the energy transfer depends not only on the strength of the transition dipole moments, but also on their relative orientation. Our research efforts aim at both studying this process at a fundamental level and also use it to increase the efficiency of molecular electronic devices. Recent advances includes the demonstration that the process works between states of different multiplicity.
Covalent Organic Frameworks: Nanostructured materials made from highly controlled synthetic and supramolecular chemical reactions are becoming increasingly important to solve challenges related to energy storage and clean air. An upcoming material that already has shown a high potential in many of these aspects is the covalent organic framework (COF), which is a metal free, lightweight development from the metal organic framework (MOF). We have developed a platform for synthesizing smooth films of 3D organic covalent frameworks, and by doing so, have opened up a range of new research directions where substrate connection, and film connectivity is a requirement.
Photon Upconversion: Triplet-triplet annihilation photon upconversion (TTA-UC) provides the possibility to convert low to high energy photons at low irradiation conditions. It is thus considered as a promising method to increase the efficiency of solar energy conversion systems like photocatalysis and solar cells. Our research aims at developing concepts for making this, in solution highly efficient, process efficient in the solid state. By doing so, we would bridge academic interest for the fundamental process with real world usability.
Organic Dye Glasses: Materia can be present as gas, liquid, and solids. The ability of a molecule to interact with light depends in which state it is present in. It is specifically important to be able to make materials, where the intrinsic photophysical properties are present even in the solid state. In order to do so, we have introduced a concept where we use entropy to direct the material to form a glass rather than a crystalline state, and by so doing we can create dye glasses, in which the individual molecules retain their intrinsic photophysical properties.
Equipment
My labs are equipped for research through the whole value chain. For synthesis of organic molecules, we have fully equipped synthesis labs, including automated purification systems, dry solvent setups, manifolds, and access to mass spectroscopy and NMR. For processing of molecules into materials, we have a spin coater, a molecular evaporator, and a metal sputterer. For probing molecules, we have UV/Vis/Nir spectrophotometers including a universal reflectance accessory (PE lambda 650 and 950), an optical microscope (Zeiss), a spectrofluorometer (EI FLS1000) including time correlated single photon counting function, a setup for laser flash photolysis (Spectra physics + EI LP980), a cryostat, an integrating sphere, and a probe station.
Funding
Present funding includes ERC Consolidator grant, Wallenberg Academy Fellow grant, The Swedish Research Council Project grant, and the Göran Gustafsson prize. I have in the past received an ERC Starting grant, the Ingvar Carlsson award grant, and the Swedish foundations starting grant.
Group members
PhD students: Rahul Bhuyan, Jie Xu, Yuanxin Liang, Hanna Tideland
Post Docs: Nicola Peruffo, Krishnapriya Kunnumma, Vishnu Nair Gopalakrishnan, Lucas Petitpoisson
Permanent Staff: Rasmus Ringström
Alumni
PhD students: Manuel Hertzog, Alexei Cravcenco, Martin Ratsch, Jürgen Mony, Yi Yu, Clara Schäfer
Post Docs: Kati Stranius, Khushbu Khushwaha, Pedro Navarro, Suman Mallick, Chen Ye, Mao Wang, Arpita Munkherjee
Collaborators
Markus Kowalewski (Stockholm University)
Johannes Feist (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
Jaime Gómez Rivas (Eindhoven University of Technology)
Teaching
I am responsible and am lecturing in KER230 (organic chemistry for prescriptionists). I am also teaching kinetics in KER220 (basic chemistry) and spectroscopy in KEM040 (physical chemistry).
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Excitation-Dependent K<SUP>+</SUP> Sensing by Combining Photoinduced Electron Transfer and Triplet-Triplet
Annihilation
Hannah Tideland, Andrew J. Carrod, Yuanxin Liang, Karl Börjesson
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY A - 2025 -
Role of Vibrational-Assisted Scattering and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering in Colloidal Plexcitonic
Materials
Nicola Peruffo, Minpeng Liang, Rahul Bhuyan, Vajradhar Acharya, Johanna L Höög, Karl Börjesson
ACS NANO - 2025 -
The effect of the oxidation level of the graphene oxide substrate on in situ growth of
COF-300
Ying Quan, Yizhou Yang, Qinfu Liu, Karl Börjesson
MATERIALS ADVANCES - 2025 -
Separating triplet exciton diffusion from triplet-triplet annihilation by the introduction of a
mediator
Andrew J. Carrod, Anton M. Berghuis, Vishnu Nair Gopalakrishnan, Andrew Monkman, Andrew Danos, Karl Börjesson
CHEMICAL SCIENCE - 2025 -
Lowering of the singlet-triplet energy gap via intramolecular exciton-exciton
coupling
Clara Schäfer, Rasmus Ringstrom, Jörg Hanrieder, Martin Rahm, Bo Albinsson, Karl Börjesson
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS - 2024 -
Deuteration as a General Strategy to Enhance Azobenzene-Based
Photopharmacology
Kilian Rossmann, Alberto J. Gonzalez-Hernandez, Rahul Bhuyan, Caspar Schattenberg, Han Sun, Karl Börjesson, Joshua Levitz, Johannes Broichhagen
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION - 2024 -
The Effect of the Relative Size of the Exciton Reservoir on Polariton
Photophysics
Rahul Bhuyan, M. Lednev, J. Feist, Karl Börjesson
Advanced Optical Materials - 2024 -
Layered 3D Covalent Organic Framework Films Based on Carbon-Carbon
Bonds
Yizhou Yang, Martin Ratsch, Austin M. Evans, Karl Börjesson
Journal of the American Chemical Society - 2023 -
The Rise and Current Status of Polaritonic Photochemistry and
Photophysics
Rahul Bhuyan, Jürgen Mony, Oleg Kotov, Gabriel W. Castellanos, Jaime Gómez Rivas, Timur O. Shegai, Karl Börjesson
Chemical Reviews - 2023 -
Quantitative Investigation of the Rate of Intersystem Crossing in the Strong Exciton-Photon Coupling
Regime
Arpita Mukherjee, J. Feist, Karl Börjesson
Journal of the American Chemical Society - 2023 -
A self-standing three-dimensional covalent organic framework
film
Yizhou Yang, Y. Y. Chen, F. Izquierdo-Ruiz, Clara Schäfer, M. Rahm, Karl Börjesson
Nature Communications - 2023 -
Recent advances in triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion and singlet fission, towards solar energy
applications
Andrew J. Carrod, V. Gray, Karl Börjesson
Energy & Environmental Science - 2022 -
Modulating TTA efficiency through control of high energy triplet
states
Andrew J. Carrod, Alexei Cravcenco, C. Ye, Karl Börjesson
Journal of Materials Chemistry C - 2022 -
Detachable all-carbon-linked 3D covalent organic framework films for semiconductor/COF heterojunctions by continuous flow
synthesis
Yizhou Yang, Clara Schäfer, Karl Börjesson
Chem - 2022 -
Electroactive Covalent Organic Framework Enabling Photostimulus-Responsive
Devices
Yizhou Yang, Amritha P. Sandra, A. Idström, Clara Schäfer, M. Andersson, L. Evenäs, Karl Börjesson
Journal of the American Chemical Society - 2022 -
Optical cavity-mediated exciton dynamics in photosynthetic light harvesting 2
complexes
F. Wu, D. Finkelstein-Shapiro, Mao Wang, I. Rosenkampff, A. Yartsev, T. Pascher, T. C. Nguyen- Phan, R. Cogdell, Karl Börjesson, T. Pullerits
Nature Communications - 2022 -
Chemical transformer compression for accelerating both training and inference of molecular
modeling
Yi Yu, Karl Börjesson
Machine Learning: Science and Technology - 2022 -
Effect of the Aza-N-Bridge and Push-Pull Moieties: A Comparative Study between BODIPYs and
Aza-BODIPYs
Clara Schäfer, Jürgen Mony, Thomas Olsson, Karl Börjesson
Journal of Organic Chemistry - 2022 -
Room Temperature Dye Glasses: A Guideline Toward the Fabrication of Amorphous Dye Films with Monomeric Absorption and
Emission
Clara Schäfer, S. Hultmark, Yizhou Yang, C. Muller, Karl Börjesson
Chemistry of Materials - 2022 -
Interplay between Polaritonic and Molecular Trap
States
Jürgen Mony, Yi Yu, Clara Schäfer, Suman Mallick, Khushbu Kushwaha, Karl Börjesson
Journal of Physical Chemistry C - 2022 -
Organic charged polaritons in the ultrastrong coupling
regime
Mao Wang, Suman Mallick, A. F. Kockum, Karl Börjesson
Physical Review Research - 2022 -
Electroactive covalent organic frameworks: a new choice for organic
electronics
Yizhou Yang, Karl Börjesson
TRENDS IN CHEMISTRY - 2022 -
Kinetics and Efficiency of Triplet-Triplet Annihilation Photon Upconversion under Pulsed Excitation
Conditions
Chen Ye, Bo Albinsson, Karl Börjesson
CHEMISTRYMETHODS - 2021 -
Photoisomerization Efficiency of a Solar Thermal Fuel in the Strong Coupling
Regime
Jürgen Mony, C. Climent, A. U. Petersen, K. Moth-Poulsen, J. Feist, Karl Börjesson
Advanced Functional Materials - 2021 -
Vitrification of octonary perylene mixtures with ultralow
fragility
S. Hultmark, Alexei Cravcenco, Khushbu Kushwaha, Suman Mallick, P. Erhart, Karl Börjesson, C. Muller
Science Advances - 2021 -
Exciton Delocalization Counteracts the Energy Gap: A New Pathway toward NIR-Emissive
Dyes
Alexei Cravcenco, Yi Yu, F. Edhborg, Jonas Goebel, Zoltan Takacs, Yizhou Yang, B. Albinsson, Karl Börjesson
Journal of the American Chemical Society - 2021 -
Resource A fine-tuned azobenzene for enhanced in
vivo
V. A. Gutzeit, A. Acosta-Ruiz, H. Munguba, S. Hafner, A. Landra-Willm, B. Mathes, J. Mony, D. Yarotski, Karl Börjesson, C. Liston, G. Sandoz, J. Levitz, J. Broichhagen
Cell Chemical Biology - 2021 -
Polariton-assisted excitation energy channeling in organic
heterojunctions
Mao Wang, Manuel Hertzog, Karl Börjesson
Nature Communications - 2021 -
Enhancing Vibrational Light-Matter Coupling Strength beyond the Molecular Concentration Limit Using Plasmonic
Arrays
Manuel Hertzog, B. Munkhbat, D. Baranov, T. Shegai, Karl Börjesson
Nano Letters - 2021 -
Direct Transition from Triplet Excitons to Hybrid Light-Matter States via Triplet-Triplet
Annihilation
Chen Ye, Suman Mallick, Manuel Hertzog, M. Kowalewski, Karl Börjesson
Journal of the American Chemical Society - 2021 -
Barrier-free reverse-intersystem crossing in organic molecules by strong light-matter
coupling
Yi Yu, Suman Mallick, Mao Wang, Karl Börjesson
Nature Communications - 2021 -
A Highly Conductive All-Carbon Linked 3D Covalent Organic Framework
Film
Yizhou Yang, Suman Mallick, F. Izquierdo-Ruiz, Clara Schäfer, X. Xing, M. Rahm, Karl Börjesson
Small - 2021 -
Entropic Mixing Allows Monomeric-Like Absorption in Neat BODIPY
Films
Clara Schäfer, Jürgen Mony, Thomas Olsson, Karl Börjesson
Chemistry-a European Journal - 2020 -
Interplay between Forster and Dexter Energy Transfer Rates in Isomeric Donor-Bridge-Acceptor
Systems
Alexei Cravcenco, Chen Ye, Jürgen Gräfenstein, Karl Börjesson
Journal of Physical Chemistry A - 2020 -
The Effect of Coupling Mode in the Vibrational Strong Coupling
Regime
Manuel Hertzog, Karl Börjesson
Chemphotochem - 2020 -
All-Carbon-Linked Continuous Three-Dimensional Porous Aromatic Framework Films with Nanometer-Precise Controllable
Thickness
Martin Ratsch, Chen Ye, Yizhou Yang, A. R. Zhang, A. M. Evans, Karl Börjesson
Journal of the American Chemical Society - 2020 -
Optimizing photon upconversion by decoupling excimer formation and triplet triplet
annihilation
Chen Ye, V. Gray, Khushbu Kushwaha, S. Kumar Singh, P. Erhart, Karl Börjesson
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics - 2020 -
UV Light Generation and Challenging Photoreactions Enabled by Upconversion in
Water
B. Pfund, D. M. Steffen, M. R. Schreier, M. S. Bertrams, Chen Ye, Karl Börjesson, O. S. Wenger, C. Kerzig
Journal of the American Chemical Society - 2020 -
Energy relaxation pathways between light-matter states revealed by coherent two-dimensional
spectroscopy
L. Mewes, Mao Wang, R. A. Ingle, Karl Börjesson, M. Chergui
Communications Physics - 2020 -
A Record Chromophore Density in High-Entropy Liquids of Two Low-Melting Perylenes: A New Strategy for Liquid
Chromophores
Khushbu Kushwaha, L. Y. Yu, Kati Stranius, Sandeep Kumar Singh, S. Hultmark, M. N. Iqbal, L. Eriksson, E. Johnston, P. Erhart, C. Muller, Karl Börjesson
Advanced Science - 2019 -
Multiplicity conversion based on intramolecular triplet-to-singlet energy
transfer
Alexei Cravcenco, Manuel Hertzog, Chen Ye, M. N. Iqbal, U. Mueller, L. Eriksson, Karl Börjesson
Science Advances - 2019 -
Annihilation Versus Excimer Formation by the Triplet Pair in Triplet-Triplet Annihilation Photon
Upconversion
Chen Ye, V. Gray, J. Martensson, Karl Börjesson
Journal of the American Chemical Society - 2019 -
Strong light-matter interactions: A new direction within
chemistry
Manuel Hertzog, Mao Wang, Jürgen Mony, Karl Börjesson
Chemical Society Reviews - 2019 -
Macroscopic heat release in a molecular solar thermal energy storage
system
Zhihang Wang, Anna Roffey, Raul Losantos, Anders Lennartson, Martyn Jevric, Anne U. Petersen, Maria Quant, Ambra Dreos, Xin Wen, Diego Sampedro, Karl Börjesson, Kasper Moth-Poulsen
Energy and Environmental Science - 2019 -
Demonstration of an azobenzene derivative based solar thermal energy storage
system
Zhihang Wang, Raul Losantos, Diego Sampedro, Masa Aki Morikawa, Karl Börjesson, Nobuo Kimizuka, Kasper Moth-Poulsen
Journal of Materials Chemistry A - 2019 -
Liquid Norbornadiene Photoswitches for Solar Energy
Storage
A. Dreos, Z. H. Wang, J. Udmark, A. Strom, P. Erhart, Karl Börjesson, M. B. Nielsen, K. Moth-Poulsen
Advanced Energy Materials - 2018 -
Angle-Independent Polariton Emission Lifetime Shown by Perylene Hybridized to the Vacuum Field Inside a Fabry-Perot
Cavity
Jürgen Mony, Manuel Hertzog, Khushbu Kushwaha, Karl Börjesson
Journal of Physical Chemistry C - 2018 -
Norbornadiene-Based Photoswitches with Exceptional Combination of Solar Spectrum Match and Long-Term Energy
Storage
M. Jevric, A. U. Petersen, M. Manso, S. K. Singh, Z. H. Wang, A. Dreos, C. Sumby, M. B. Nielsen, Karl Börjesson, P. Erhart, K. Moth-Poulsen
Chemistry-a European Journal - 2018 -
Selective manipulation of electronically excited states through strong light-matter
interactions
Kati Stranius, Manuel Hertzog, Karl Börjesson
Nature Communications - 2018 -
Release of Terminal Alkynes via Tandem Photodeprotection and Decarboxylation of o-Nitrobenzyl Arylpropiolates in a Flow Microchannel
Reactor
B. E. Tebikachew, Karl Börjesson, N. Kann, K. Moth-Poulsen
Bioconjugate chemistry - 2018
More publications
We have limited the number of publications on this page. Visit GUP (The Publication Database for Gothenburg University) to find more publications.