Projects per year
Personal profile
Research profile
René Janssen leads the interdepartmental research group Molecular Materials and Nanosystems at Eindhoven University of Technology, which is part of the departments Chemical Engineering and Chemistry as well as Applied Physics. The research objective of the group is to investigate and develop molecules, macromolecules and (nano)structured materials with tailored physical properties. The interest in these functional molecular materials and nanosystems is driven by the scientific challenge to understand the underlying mechanisms of the physical phenomena in systems of reduced dimensionality, down to the molecular level. Future applications are in organic and polymer solar cells, electrochemical cells, transistors and diodes.
Janssen has in particular obtained a thorough understanding of the subtle interactions of light and the chemical and electrical structures at the nanoscale. This has led to major improvements in the efficiency of polymer solar cells. The group now works on multi-junction molecular solar-to-electricity conversion devices, to further improve efficiencies. Another focus in Janssen's research is solar-to-fuel conversion using organic semiconductors in a process mimicking natural photosynthesis. To this aim new organic materials and electrocatalysts are being developed.
Academic background
René Janssen studied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, the Netherlands) where he received his MSc degree in 1983 cum laude. In 1987, he obtained his PhD at the same university with an experimental and theoretical study on organic radicals in single crystals. In 1991, he was appointed associate professor at TU/e in the field of physical organic chemistry. In 1993 and 1994, he was an associate researcher with the group of Professor Alan Heeger at the University of California Santa Barbara to work on the photophysical properties of conjugated polymers. In 2000, he was appointed full professor at TU/e in Physical Organic Chemistry at the department of Chemical Engineering & Chemistry. In 2003, he was also appointed Professor of Molecular Materials and Nanosystems at the department of Applied Physics. In 2011 Janssen was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and in 2013 he was appointed distinguished university professor at TU/e. Janssen received important grants and awards, among which the Pioneer grant from the Dutch science foundation NWO (1999), the René Descartes Prize from the European Commission (2000), a NWO TOP grant (2006), an ERC Advanced Grant (2013) and the NWO Spinoza Prize (2015). He is a member of the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems and one of the principal investigators of the long-term NWO Gravitation research program 'Functional Molecular Systems', which in 2012 was funded with 26,9 million euro.
Chair
Physical organic chemistry
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 1 Finished
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Light manangement for industrial two terminval perovskite silicon tandem PV modules
Janssen, R. A. J. (Project Manager), Zhang, D. (Project member) & Pinto Branco, B. (Project member)
1/09/21 → 30/09/24
Project: Third tier
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Device Performance of Emerging Photovoltaic Materials (Version 5)
Almora, O. (Corresponding author), Bazan, G. C., Cabrera, C. I., Castriotta, L. A., Erten-Ela, S., Forberich, K., Fukuda, K., Guo, F., Hauch, J., Ho-Baillie, A. W. Y., Jacobsson, T. J., Janssen, R. A. J., Kirchartz, T., Lunt, R. R., Mathew, X., Mitzi, D. B., Nazeeruddin, M. K., Nelson, J., Nogueira, A. F. & Paetzold, U. W. & 6 others, , 25 Mar 2025, In: Advanced Energy Materials. 15, 12, 46 p., 2404386.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Functionalized Substrates for Reduced Nonradiative Recombination in Metal-Halide Perovskites
Aalbers, G. J. W., Remmerswaal, W. H. M., van den Heuvel, R. H. C., Bellini, L., Kessels, L. M., Weijtens, C. H. L., Schipper, N. R. M., Wienk, M. M. & Janssen, R. A. J. (Corresponding author), 9 Jan 2025, In: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 16, 1, p. 372-377 6 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)18 Downloads (Pure) -
Local halide heterogeneity drives surface wrinkling in mixed-halide wide-bandgap perovskites
Datta, K. (Corresponding author-nrf), van Laar, S. C. W., Taddei, M., Hidalgo, J., Kodalle, T., Aalbers, G. J. W., Lai, B., Li, R., Tamura, N., Frencken, J. T. W., Quiroz Monnens, S. V., Westbrook, R. J. E., Graham, D. J., Sutter-Fella, C. M., Correa-Baena, J. P., Ginger, D. S., Wienk, M. M. & Janssen, R. A. J. (Corresponding author), 25 Feb 2025, In: Nature Communications. 16, 1, 13 p., 1967.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile4 Downloads (Pure) -
New Highly Sulfonated Polythioethers as Polyelectrolyte Membranes for Water Electrolysis
de Azpiazu Nadal, I., Branco, B., Tovar, G. E. M., Kerres, J., Janssen, R. A. J., Reynaud, S. (Corresponding author) & Atanasov, V. (Corresponding author), 9 Apr 2025, In: ACS Polymers Au. 5, 2, p. 145-154 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Performance and stability analysis of all-perovskite tandem photovoltaics in light-driven electrochemical water splitting
Wang, J., Branco, B., Remmerswaal, W. H. M., Hu, S., Schipper, N. R. M., Zardetto, V., Bellini, L., Daub, N., Wienk, M. M., Wakamiya, A., Snaith, H. J. & Janssen, R. A. J. (Corresponding author), 2 Jan 2025, In: Nature Communications. 16, 1, 11 p., 174.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)7 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Supporting Data for The mechanism of dedoping PEDOT: PSS by aliphatic polyamines
Keene, S. T. (Contributor), van de Burgt, Y. B. (Contributor), Janssen, R. A. J. (Contributor), Meskers, S. C. J. (Contributor), Saes, B. H. W. (Contributor), van der Pol, T. P. A. (Contributor) & Salleo, A. (Contributor), 4TU.Centre for Research Data, 30 Aug 2021
DOI: 10.4121/16535553
Dataset
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CCDC 1957368: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination
Más-Montoya, M. (Contributor), Gómez, P. (Contributor), Curiel, D. (Contributor), da Silva, I. (Contributor), Wang, J. (Contributor) & Janssen, R. A. J. (Contributor), Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, 3 Oct 2019
DOI: 10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc23psxj
Dataset
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CCDC 2228614: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination
Caiazzo, A. (Contributor), Maufort, A. (Contributor), van Gorkom, B. T. (Contributor), Remmerswaal, W. H. M. (Contributor), Orri, J. F. (Contributor), Li, J. (Contributor), Wang, J. (Contributor), van Gompel, W. T. M. (Contributor), Van Hecke, K. (Contributor), Kusch, G. (Contributor), Oliver, R. A. (Contributor), Ducati, C. (Contributor), Lutsen, L. (Contributor), Wienk, M. M. (Contributor), Stranks, S. D. (Contributor), Vanderzande, D. (Contributor) & Janssen, R. A. J. (Contributor), Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, 19 Dec 2022
DOI: 10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc2dt1s2, http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/services/structure_request?id=doi:10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc2dt1s2&sid=DataCite
Dataset
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CCDC 1583689: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination
Huckaba, A. J. (Creator), Senes, A. (Creator), Aghazada, S. (Creator), Babaei, A. (Creator), Meskers, S. C. J. (Creator), Zimmermann, I. (Creator), Schouwink, P. (Creator), Gasilova, N. (Creator), Janssen, R. A. J. (Creator), Bolink, H. J. (Creator) & Nazeeruddin, M. K. (Creator), Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, 6 Feb 2018
DOI: 10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc1q4yrk, http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/services/structure_request?id=doi:10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc1q4yrk&sid=DataCite
Dataset
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CCDC 2228613: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination
Caiazzo, A. (Contributor), Maufort, A. (Contributor), van Gorkom, B. T. (Contributor), Remmerswaal, W. H. M. (Contributor), Orri, J. F. (Contributor), Li, J. (Contributor), Wang, J. (Contributor), van Gompel, W. T. M. (Contributor), Van Hecke, K. (Contributor), Kusch, G. (Contributor), Oliver, R. A. (Contributor), Ducati, C. (Contributor), Lutsen, L. (Contributor), Wienk, M. M. (Contributor), Stranks, S. D. (Contributor), Vanderzande, D. (Contributor) & Janssen, R. A. J. (Contributor), Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, 19 Dec 2022
DOI: 10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc2dt1r1, http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/services/structure_request?id=doi:10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc2dt1r1&sid=DataCite
Dataset
Prizes
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Research Center for Functional Molecular Systems
Meijer, E. W. (Recipient), van Hest, J. C. M. (Recipient), Brunsveld, L. (Recipient), Janssen, R. A. J. (Recipient) & Sijbesma, R. P. (Recipient), 2013
Prize: NWO › Gravitation › Scientific
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Solar Energy Conversion in Molecular Multi-Junctions
Janssen, R. A. J. (Recipient), 2013
Prize: ERC › Advanced › Scientific
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University professor: Prof. dr. ir. R.A.J. (René) Janssen
Janssen, R. A. J. (Recipient), 2013
Prize: TU/e › University professor › Scientific
Courses
Press/Media
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Energy Transition with Anna Wieczorek and Rene Jansen (Podcast Science is here)
Wieczorek, A. J. & Janssen, R. A. J.
2/07/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
Research areas
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Organic flow batteries
Hendriks, K. H. (Researcher) & Janssen, R. A. J. (Researcher)
Impact: Research Topic/Theme (at group level)
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Organic solar cells
Janssen, R. A. J. (Researcher), Meskers, S. C. J. (Researcher) & Wienk, M. M. (Researcher)
Impact: Research Topic/Theme (at group level)
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Perovskite solar cells
Janssen, R. A. J. (Researcher), Meskers, S. C. J. (Researcher) & Wienk, M. M. (Researcher)
Impact: Research Topic/Theme (at group level)
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Photodetectors
Gelinck, G. H. (Researcher), Janssen, R. A. J. (Researcher) & Meskers, S. C. J. (Researcher)
Impact: Research Topic/Theme (at group level)
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Solar fuels
Janssen, R. A. J. (Researcher), Flipse, C. F. J. (Researcher) & Wienk, M. M. (Researcher)
Impact: Research Topic/Theme (at group level)
Thesis
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Struktuur van fosforanyl- en fosforaananionradikalen : een ESR studie en ab initio berekeningen
Janssen, R. A. J. (Author), 28 Feb 1983Student thesis: Master