Florian Auras

Synthetic Materials and Functional Devices
+49 345 5582 813
GH, App. 13

Research interests

As a physical chemist and materials scientist by training, I am fascinated by constructing new materials with tailored properties via their precise design on the molecular and supramolecular length scales. My current research focuses on crystalline two-dimensional polymers known as Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs), molecular cages and other (supra-)molecular semiconductor architectures. I am particularly interested in constructing and studying materials with switchable optical, electronic, and spin-electronic properties, for future applications in next-generation information technology.

Short CV

Florian studied Materials Science at the University of Augsburg (B.Sc.) and TU München (M.Sc.), and obtained his Doctorate in Physical Chemistry from the University of Munich (LMU) in October 2013.

He then worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher and Subgroup Leader at the University of Munich with Prof. Thomas Bein. In July 2016, he joined Prof. Richard Friend’s group at the University of Cambridge as a Research Associate, where he led the “DNA-assembled semiconductors” team.

In October 2022, he joined Prof. Xinliang Feng’s Chair for Molecular Functional Materials, where he leads the “Dynamics and physics of 2D frameworks” group, with funding from the DFG.

Academic employment

  • 12/2013 – 06/2016: Postdoctoral researcher, University of Munich, Germany.
  • 07/2016 – 08/2022: Research Associate, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK.
  • 10/2022 – present: Research Group Leader, TU Dresden and Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle, Germany.

Funding

DFG project “Dynamic 2D covalent organic frameworks” (10/2023 – 09/2026)

Scientific achievements and recognition

> 40 publications, > 5000 citations, h-index 28.
Full publication list (Google Scholar)

Key publications:

S. R. E. Orsborne, J. Gorman, L. R. Weiss, A. Sridhar, N. A. Panjwani, G. Divitini, P. Budden, D. Palecek, S. T. J. Ryan, A. Rao, R. Collepardo-Guevara, A. H. El-Sagheer, T. Brown, J. Behrends, R. H. Friend*, F. Auras*
Photogeneration of Spin Quintet Triplet–Triplet Excitations in DNA-Assembled Pentacene Stacks
Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145, 5431.
J. Gorman, S. R. E. Orsborne, A. Sridhar, R. Pandya, P. Budden, A. Ohmann, N. A. Panjwani, Y. Liu, J. L. Greenfield, S. Dowland, V. Gray, S. T. J. Ryan, S. De Ornellas, A. El-Sagheer, T. Brown, J. R. Nitschke, J. Behrends, U. F. Keyser, A. Rao, R. Collepardo-Guevara, E. Stulz, R. H. Friend*, F. Auras*
Deoxyribonucleic Acid Encoded and Size-Defined π-Stacking of Perylene Diimides
Journal of the American Chemical Society 2022, 144, 368.
L. Ascherl, T. Sick, J. T. Margraf, S. H. Lapidus, M. Calik, C. Hettstedt, K. Karaghiosoff, M. Döblinger, T. Clark, K. W. Chapman, F. Auras*, T. Bein*
Molecular docking sites designed for the generation of highly crystalline covalent organic frameworks
[front cover] Nature Chemistry 2016, 8, 310.
L. Ascherl, E. W. Evans, M. Hennemann, D. Di Nuzzo, A. G. Hufnagel, M. Beetz, R. H. Friend, T. Clark, T. Bein*, F. Auras*
Solvatochromic covalent organic frameworks
[Editors’ Highlights] Nature Communications 2018, 9, 3802.
L. Ascherl, E. Evans, J. Gorman, S. Orsborne, D. Bessinger, T. Bein, R. Friend, F. Auras*
Perylene-based covalent organic frameworks for acid vapour sensing
Journal of the American Chemical Society 2019, 141, 15693.
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