IESc Seminar Series: Smart Functional Materials for Environmental Applications - By Dr. Volkan Can

Institute of Environmental Sciences Seminar Series

“Smart Functional Materials for Environmental Applications”

By Dr. Volkan Can

Yeditepe University

We cordially invite you to our seminar “Smart Functional Materials for Environmental Applications” by Dr. Volkan Can, Yeditepe University.

When: 20 March, Monday, 14:00-15:00

Where: Institute of Environmental Sciences Meeting Room

Contact: pinar.ertor@boun.edu.tr for any questions.

Abstract:

With rapid population growth and fast industrialization, environmental pollution and scarcity of resources became the most severe environmental challenges facing mankind. Conventional treatment technologies are being pushed to their limits because of the increasing production demand with increasing human population. At this point, the progress in material science can play a vital role to provide solutions to existing and future environmental problems. With development of new technologies, next generation of smart materials are becoming available and affordable for utilization as environmental sensors and remediation agents. These materials may provide a better control and cleaning performance in waste water treatment or air pollution control - not only in micro- but also in nano scale purification. Among these new type of smart materials, functional hydrogels which can be designed to respond to different type of changes like pH, magnetic field, temperature, light, etc., in their surroundings and Carbon Quantum Dots with their low-cost production and photoluminescent properties are promising set of materials for environmental applications. In this talk, insights on our research focusing on the production and applications of these materials will be given with a future perspective.

About Volkan Can:

Dr. Volkan Can is researcher and lecturer at Yeditepe University, Department of Genetics and Bioengineering. Dr. Can has received his PhD from TU-Clausthal on the subject of polymer networks. He carried out his post-doc studies at ITU and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin on the subject of smart mechanically tough hydrogels bearing self-healing and shape-memory properties. He, then, started his position in chemical industry, CHT Turkey and served in the company as Chief of R&D and R&D Manager for four years. His main task was development of waterborne functional polymeric coatings. In March 2020, he got a 1507 TUBITAK grant for development of a microfluidic based Point-of-Care device for COVID-19 antibody detection in GENZ Biotechnology. Afterwards he took his current position in Yeditepe University. Currently, he focused on production strategies and structure-property relationships of functional nanomaterials and their biological and environmental applications.