Cum laude PhD graduation for Sophie van Lange

On Thursday June 5^th, Sophie defended her thesis “Charge ahead: moderated ionic bonding for processable polyelectrolyte complex materials”. The degree was awarded with the distinction “cum laude”. In her PhD, Sophie developed a new class of polymer materials, “compleximers”: plastics that are cross-linked by ionic bonds. By modifying the charged polymers with hydrophobic groups, she solved two major challenges that have hindered theuse of polyelectrolyte-based materials: their sensitivity to humidity and the difficulty of processing these materials. Sophie then carried out a detailed investigation of these novel materials, using a variety of experimental techniques combined with molecular computer simulations. Her work has laid the foundation for an entirely novel research line in the group, and we will further explore the potential of these exciting materials in future projects. We wish Sophie all the best in her future career, at Canon Production Printing.