"We need to develop future-ready polymers and materials"

Željko Tomović leads the Polymer Performance Materials group that develops new fundamental concepts in macromolecular chemistry and polymer materials. Guided by structure-property relationships, he aims to improve existing polymeric materials and design novel polymers, in both cases focusing on performance with respect to materials properties as well as circularity. This includes the development of novel synthetic methodology that renders existing polymers as well as new polymer structures recyclable. In his research, Tomović combines polymer synthesis with detailed molecular, morphological and property characterization to expand the knowledge base of fundamental polymer science and to advance new technologies. Of particular interest are new polymerization strategies for the creation of novel polymeric materials for industrially relevant high-performance applications.

Željko Tomović studied chemistry at the University of Kragujevac, Serbia, where he obtained his master's degree in 2000. He then moved to Germany for his PhD research in the synthetic chemistry lab of Prof. Klaus Müllen at the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. In 2005, he obtained his doctorate with a thesis on new discotic liquid crystals based on large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as materials for molecular electronics. In 2005-2006 he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the group of Prof. Bert Meijer at TU/e, focusing on the synthesis and supramolecular organization of pi-conjugated systems. In 2006 he joined BASF where he worked on a variety of topics in the field of polyurethane and carbon-rich materials research. This resulted in many patents which were successfully translated into new products introduced to markets globally. Tomović was a guest researcher at the TU/e Meijer lab (2006-2008) and a visiting professor at the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Belgrade, Serbia (2013-2018). In June 2020 he joined TU/e as a full professor to start his group in Polymer Performance Materials.