The IChF’s PAN Microsymposium, held on-site from 13 – 15 January 2025, brought together researchers and members of the International Advisory Board (IAB) to share groundbreaking advances in physical chemistry. This annual event highlighted the importance of collaboration and innovation among the institute’s clusters, showcasing their key role in driving scientific progress.

Our research group, which is part of Cluster 3,​‘Catalysis and Materials for Sustainable Transformations’, actively contributed to the event. Prof. Juan Carlos Colmenares Quintero presented a paper entitled ​‘Understanding how to enhance selectivity in (sono)(photo)catalytic oxidation of aromatic alcohols using carbon-based materials’, focusing on innovative techniquesfor the preparation and characterisation of catalysts and materials for sustainable energy production and environmental protection. His presentation underlined our commitment to combine experimental and theoretical approaches to optimise catalytic processes and introduce​‘catalysis on demand’ technologies.

In addition, the symposium featured individual contributions from members of our team through the following posters:

• Behdokht Hashemi Hosseini:​‘Synthesis of chitosan and lignin-based materials for sonophotocatalytic reactions: the role of sonication and isotropic solvents’.

• Dariusz Łomot:​‘The ReactorReQ photoreactor’. This presentation showed the commercialisation of the innovative ReactorReQ, a photoreactor designed for industrial applications.

• Marta Paszkiewicz-Gawron:​‘Photopiezo-sonocatalysis for sustainable technologies and organic transformations’. Marta summarised the annual progress of our group, highlighting the development of hybrid catalytic systems for green hydrogen production and wastewater treatment.

Of the more than 60 posters presented at the microsymposium, the IAB members selected the five best contributions, recognizing their excellence and impact. Among these top five were two from our team: Behdokht Hashemi Hosseini’s work and Marta Paszkiewicz-Gawron’s. This recognition underscores the innovative and high-quality research being conducted within our group, further solidifying our position as leaders in catalysis and sustainable materials development.