Andddd it's now out in Advanced Materials! doi.org/10.1002/adma... Here, we show a new method of transforming hydrogels into ceramics and metals with low conversion shrinkages and high material densities. (1/7) #chemsky #matsky

It's 2025, almost 2026. If you're gonna use chatgpt to write your entire research statement, at least make sure the references are not 100% fake.

We have some new positions available in the group! (PhD student + Research intern) Details can be found here: www.epfl.ch/labs/alchemy... #chemsky #matsky

What a beautiful location!

Sigh.

That is a big increase marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/news/msca-po...

Trying to go to more European conferences = first time in Poland in over 10 years!

It took 6 months of review but this paper is finally accepted 😮‍💨🫡 It has changed / expanded so much since our first submission. Really excited to to show what we’ve done!

I felt this in my soul.

Engineering: When you need to stir something that is less dense than your solvent.

Hot days (>30C) without AC We are so back

Guess we ran out of balloons

60 years of independence! Majulah Singapura 🇸🇬

Love me some annealing twins

Over the past 6 months, we’ve been dabbling (very very lightly) into the world of lab automation. Wise words from the engineer leading this project today.

TIL that you can get hydrochloric acid like this. I have no idea why we bought this. It’s giving boxed wine / to-go vibes.

Out now in ACS Materials Letters pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... We developed a method to fabricate composites with volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM). The study was led by Yiming Ji, a grad student in my group, with support from @xolo3d.bsky.social Here's a little 🧵(1/8)

The first research paper of the group just got accepted! The review process always takes longer than expected but I'm glad it'll be out there soon :D

Question for editors: in what situations do you send out a revised paper to additional reviewers? (Beyond the original set of reviewers) I assume when one of the original reviewers don’t respond/decline to review? Or if it’s a split vote? Anything else?

A great article by @hormiga.bsky.social scienceforeveryone.science/p/the-power-...

Gotta celebrate the small wins: a nice 3D printed “stent” we made recently :D

My group planned a mini chem-themed scavenger hunt. 10/10 for effort 🙏

I spent way too long trying to figure how these work. Super cool how they look from different angles. Apparently these are really common/popular 3D prints? I learn something new everyday. I bet there is an academic paper on this somewhere.

Putting the east in Easter 🇸🇰

10 hours later and we are in Vienna. Almost there! The connectivity and quality of European trains are truly amazing.

11 hr train journey today.

Took a little longer than expected but here’s the preprint: doi.org/10.26434/che...

What’s this? A spanner for ants?

Wild that this was made in 1789. (Patek-Phillip Museum, Geneva)

Pulling a rare all-nighter today. Reminds me of my grad school / undergrad / army days. Too many all-nighters done in my life so far 😭

One day, I will get NileRed to give a seminar at EPFL. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzP3...

One of my "favourite" comments on my grant proposals is that I'm too young to assess my independence. A feedback I got today: "[funding body] encourages the applicant to publish independently in the future". Wow. I wish I thought of that

ACS is always a blast. Great to reconnect with so many old friends and meet new ones!

It’s been a while since my last ACS meeting (pre-EPFL!) so I’m quite looking forward to it! I’ll be giving two talks on some recent work in the group. Come say hi / catch up / hang out! #ACSSpring2025

When in Texas. Round 1 of BBQ adventure

What a day at Southern Miss. Beautiful breadth of polymer research!

The real reason why I’m in the US

I tell my students that running a lab in a university is basically like running a small startup! (+ teaching)

What a video. It's one thing to know that fluorine labs exists (and imagine the kinds of PPE they would probably need) but it's another to actually see how their labs are built. 100% not doing fluorine chemistry in my career. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzIH...

An actual experiment and measurement being done in the lab. Once again, I swear we do real materials science

Who do you really trust to carry the next message in a bottle? And will anyone be left listening when it comes back?

Happy to join the Early Career Board for ACS AMI! Thanks to all those who supported my nomination :D pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Side note. Although it doesn’t look like it, I swear we actually do polymer research in my group! They just ain’t ready for showtime yet

Just submitted the second paper of my group! Really proud of this one. Here's a teaser: we developed a process that allowed us to convert hydrogels into ceramics and metals with reduced shrinkages and improved densities! Prev tech: Shrinkage ~60%, density ~40% New tech: Shrinkage ~40%, density ~90%

“Atlas”

Man really used the excuse of “I uploaded the wrong manuscript”.

"It seems like everything is slowly trying to become everything else." The enshittification of technology

The best part about having your own lab is that you can do whatever you want. New frontiers / trying new things at ALCHEMY

Just about two years in at EPFL and we just submitted the first research paper of the group! (that is not a review or a perspective) A milestone for the group! 🎉 (regardless of whether it gets accepted or not) (I accidentally deleted this post so here it is again...)

ALCHEMY Winter 2025. This is our third group photo! We are almost halfway through the colors of the rainbow 🌈