J.C. Bijleveld (Johan)

Biography

I was born in 1980 in Rhenen. I grew up in the province of Utrecht, later on I moved into the city of Utrecht, where I obtained my ‘doctorandus’ (MSc) degree at the University in June 2006. My internship was done in the laboratory of prof Andersson in Gothenburg, Sweden, where I came in contact with organic solar cells for the first time. This research inspired me to pursue a PhD in Eindhoven in the group of prof. Janssen on polymer photovoltaics. This meant for me that I had to send a significant amount of time in the lab making monomers and polymers. Once synthesized, these polymers were directly incorporated and tested in solar cells. I focussed on polymers based on diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP), where we tried to optimize molecular structure to enhance the efficiency of the resulting solar cells. At one moment we held the record for DPP-based solar cells in the world. The title of my thesis was ‘Synthesis and application of p-conjugated polymers for organic solar cells’. 

After these four years of research I switched in September 2010 to education. I became a teacher at the Hogeschool Leiden, where I was a teacher in organic chemistry and polymer chemistry. I also was the supervisor of bachelor students during their final internship. During the last two years I was also a member of the board of examiners.

Since January 2014 I am employed by the TU Delft as a chemist, with a focus on polymers. 

Courses

AE4ASM101TU - Polymer Science