Center for Sustainable Materials

Prof. Milko van der Boom received his BSc from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands, and MSc in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam. He earned his PhD degree with distinction from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, working with Prof. David Milstein. After three years of postdoctoral research with Prof. Tobin J. Marks at Northwestern University in the US, he became a Faculty member in the Weizmann Institute's Department of Organic Chemistry. 

He is currently the incumbent of the Bruce A. Pearlman Professorial Chair in Synthetic Organic Chemistry and the Head of the Department of Chemical Research Support at the Weizmann Institute. He has been awarded the Alon Fellowship from the Israel Council for Higher Education, the Gutwirth Award, and the Israel Chemical Society Prize for Young Scientists. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. 

Dr. Michal Leskes is a senior scientist at the department of Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science at the Weizmann Institute. She completed her PhD with Prof. Shimon Vega at the Weizmann Institute and a postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Clare Grey at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Her research group focuses on elucidating the functioning mechanism of energy storage and conversion materials and the development of new analytical tools based on high sensitivity magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Insight gained from the developed methodologies provide unique atomic-molecular level correlation between the structure and function of state-of-the-art battery materials and enables development of improved energy storage systems.

Dr. Leskes received a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (2012-2013), the Yigal Alon fellowship from the Israeli Council of Higher Education (2015-2018), the Abragam Prize from the International Society of Magnetic Resonance (2019), an ERC starting grant (2019), the Early Career award from the Israel Vacuum Society (2020), the Weizmann Institute Scientific Council Award in Chemistry (2022), and the Guy Sella Award in Energy Research (2023).

Sustainable Nanomaterials
The group develops noncovalent nanomaterials that are robust, adaptive, and sustainable - they can be as tough as covalent ones (such as polymers(, and yet can be easily assembled and disassembled, enabling simple fabrication and recycling. The group is interested in material functions, such as filtration membranes, recyclable supramolecular plastic materials, and solar energy conversion.
 

Materials of the Ocean
The group studies mineralization processes in two of the most abundant algal groups of modern oceans, diatoms, which form silicified cell wall with nano-patterning unequaled by any synthetic system, and coccolithophores, which form calcified scales with unprecedented control over crystal orientation and morphology.
 

Structural Dynamics of Materials
The group is developing a new approach to understanding and controlling material properties at finite temperatures. The experimental group of engineers, physicists, and chemists is dedicated to uncovering the connection between atomic and molecular dynamics and material properties. It combines state-of-the-art optical spectroscopy methods, heat capacity, and electronic transport measurements to demonstrate that thermal fluctuations often profoundly affect the dielectric constant, heat capacity and transport, charge transport, and optical properties of materials.

Quantum Theory of Materials
The group's research is focused on understanding unique properties and behavior of materials and interfaces, using first principles quantum mechanical calculations based mostly on density functional theory and many-body perturbation theory.
 

Nanotubes and Nanowires
The group’s research focuses on the organization of one-dimensional nanostructures, such as carbon nanotubes, inorganic nanotubes and nanowires; their integration into functional nanosystems (mechanical, electronic, electromechanical, optoelectronic, electromagnetic, thermal, etc.); and their characterization by mechanical, electrical and optical measurements at the nanometer scale.
 

Dielectrics, Electromechanics, Ion-Conductors
The group "teaches" materials to exhibit very unusual elastic and electrical properties. It has investigated rubber-like-ceramics, self-organization of nanocrystalline ferroelectric grains into macro-domains, and formation of non-crystalline polar phase. These projects employ a range of micro-fabrication, structural and electrical characterization techniques.
 

Catalysis, Green Chemistry, and Renewable Energy Lab
The group’s interest is in the shift of chemical and energy related processes from entrenched high temperature catalysis based on fossil fuels to low temperature sustainable catalysis using electricity and light as renewable energy sources. All this is directed to the prevention of emission of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide and methane, through abatement and non-carbon emitting reactions.

Surface Physics and Interface Chemistry
The group studies the physical and chemical phenomena on model catalyst surfaces. Its studies are relevant to the current grand challenges of energy and environment, and to potential roadmaps for the hydrogen economy, methanol economy, oil economy, and carbon dioxide utilization.
 

Sustainable Energy
The group focuses on sustainable energy, bond activation chemistry, and green homogenous catalysis. Metal-ligand cooperation by aromatization – dearomatization of the hetero-aromatic ligand core of pincer complexes has led to new reactions in the group’s lab that are significant for sustainable energy, such as water splitting, new high capacity hydrogen storage systems, superior biofuel, and low pressure stepwise CO2 conversion to methanol.
 

Quantum Theory of Materials
The group's research is focused on understanding unique properties and behavior of materials and interfaces, using first principles quantum mechanical calculations based mostly on density functional theory and many-body perturbation theory.
 

Life Inspired Materials
The group is interested in understanding the self-assembling behavior of biological materials in living systems. By utilizing natural building blocks such as proteins, peptides, polynucleic acids and their complexes for biomaterials synthesis, it aims to unravel the processes leading either to function or to failure, and the dysfunction of biological contracts at a very fundamental level.
 

Electrosynthesis & Catalysis Laboratory
The group focuses on expanding the retrosynthetic analysis toolbox of organic chemists through the development of new and practical chemical reactions driven by synthetic electrochemistry, catalysis, and reagent development.
 

Materials Chemistry Laboratory
The group aims to achieve synthetic modularity in covalent crystals by using molecules as building blocks instead of atoms. It employ strategies from organic chemistry and solid-state synthesis at elevated temperatures to study the dynamic chemistry in the gas phase that leads to the formation of intermolecular covalent bonds and successful crystallization.