Prof. Kian Ping Loh

Professor Kian Ping Loh did his Bachelor of Science (Honors) in the National University of Singapore, majoring in Chemistry, and thereafter obtained his D.Phil from University of Oxford in 1996. He did his postdoctoral research in NIMS, Japan between 1997 and 1998. Both his doctoral and post-doctoral work concerned the surface chemistry of diamond, an area which he still maintains active interests. He has an established a notable presence in functional carbon materials research, and his team focuses on the surface functionalization, biosensing, solar and optical applications of diamond and graphene. The expertise of his group ranges from surface science of carbon at the atomic domains, optical studies of advanced functional carbon materials, design and synthesis of organic dyes, molecular electronics to solar cells and surface science. He also works on the Industrial scaling and applications of graphene composites. He is a founding member of the Graphene Research Centre in NUS and is currently the Head of Chemistry Department, National University of Singapore, and is also a visiting professor in Ulsan University of Science and Technology under the World Class Professorship program.

Recent research accomplishments of Kian Ping Loh include pioneering a controllable pathway to generate geometrically well-defined graphene quantum dots and strained graphene nanostructure which boost graphene?s promise as a next-generation semiconductor (Nature Nanotechnology, 2011). His team also invented an ultra-slim broadband polariser that uses graphene to convert light into polarised light, a breakthrough that can broaden the bandwidth of prevailing optical fibre-based telecommunication systems (Nature Photonics, 2011). Working on the industrial scaling of graphene composites, his team also investigated the origin of catalytic reactivity in porous graphene (Nature Comm, 2013). Kian Ping Loh has won numerous awards in Singapore for his research, noteoworthy among these include the University Young Researcher Award in 2008, and the Oustanding University Research Award in 2012.