Dr Dominik Kubicki

Dr Dominik J Kubicki

School of Chemistry
Assistant Professor in Materials Characterisation

Contact details

Email
d.j.kubicki@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@DominikJKubicki
Address
School of Chemistry
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dominik J. Kubicki is an Assistant Professor in the School of Chemistry. Dominik has published over 60 research papers in scientific journals in the fields of materials chemistry and solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

His research focuses on new materials for sustainable optoelectronic technologies. He has received an ERC Starting Grant (£2.2M) focusing on in situ and operando determination of atomic-level structure of metal halide perovskite solar cells.

Dominik is passionate about collaborative, interdisciplinary and inclusive science.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Chemistry, EPFL, Switzerland, 2018 Title: "Surface-Enhanced NMR Spectroscopy"
  • MScEng (Hons) in Chemical Technology, Department of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland, 2013
  • BSc (Hons) in Chemical Technology, Department of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland, 2012

Biography

Dominik completed his PhD in Chemistry at EPFL, Switzerland, under the guidance of Lyndon Emsley in 2018, and went on to work as a postdoctoral researcher at EPFL and the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, UK, under Michael Grätzel, Sam Stranks, and Clare Grey. Dominik has also received several prestigious fellowships and awards, including the ERC Starting Grant, the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship, and the MSCA Individual Fellowship.

Dominik has supervised and mentored numerous graduate students throughout his career. Dominik also actively engages in teaching activities, including supervising experimental undergraduate projects, acting as a personal tutor, and delivering lectures ranging from materials chemistry to physics of sustainable energy generation.

Dominik is a prolific researcher, with a particular focus on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and its applications in materials science. He regularly presents his research at conferences and seminars, including the Experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Conference (USA), the Central European NMR Symposium (Poland), the Global NMR Discussion Meetings, and various halide perovskite conferences.

Dominik is also an active reviewer for a number of high-impact journals. In 2021, Dominik organised and chaired the online conference "Atomic-level characterisation of hybrid perovskites" which brought together the diffraction and spectroscopy communities studying local structure in halide perovskites.

Research

Solid-state MAS NMR gives unique element-specific and quantitative insight into local structure, structural dynamics, and chemical transformations in materials. Dominik's group uses various synthetic strategies in conjunction with solid-state NMR, diffraction, and optical spectroscopies to make and understand the new materials our society needs to become more sustainable and end reliance on fossil fuels. Some of our areas of research include:

  • chemical transformations in metal halide perovskites
  • new materials discovery for optoelectronics
  • new solid-state NMR approaches to functional materials
  • mechanosynthesis - nearly 100% atom-efficient synthesis of optoelectronic materials

The group works closely with The UK High-Field Solid-State NMR Facility, which hosts the state-of-the-art 850 MHz, 1 GHz, and soon, 1.2 GHz solid-state NMR systems.

Other activities

Honours and Awards

  • Best invited lecture of CFF2022 (University of Pisa, Italy), 2023
  • Doctoral Program Thesis Distinction for very high quality PhD thesis in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, EPFL, Switzerland, 2018
  • Best Oral Presentation Award at the 4th International Conference on Perovskite Solar Cells and Optoelectronics (PSCO), Lausanne, Switzerland, 2018
  • Journal of Magnetic Resonance-ISMAR Young Scientist Award at 20th International Society of Magnetic Resonance, (ISMAR) Conference, Québec City, Canada, 2017
  • Best oral presentation award in Phys. Chem. at Swiss Chem. Soc. Fall Meeting, Zurich, Switzerland, 2016
  • Awarded the Diamond Grant, an award for outstanding young researchers (Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland), 2013

Publications

Selected recent publications

Article

  • Pander, M.; Gil-San-Millan, R.; Delgado, P.; Perona-Bermejo, C.; Kostrzewa, U.; Kaczkowski, K.; J. Kubicki, D.; R. Navarro, J. A.; Bury, W. MOF/Polymer Hybrids through in Situ Free Radical Polymerization in Metal-Organic Frameworks. Materials Horizons 2023. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2MH01202B
  • Lehner, L. E.; Demchyshyn, S.; Frank, K.; Minenkov, A.; Kubicki, D. J.; Sun, H.; Hailegnaw, B.; Putz, C.; Mayr, F.; Cobet, M.; Hesser, G.; Schöfberger, W.; Sariciftci, N. S.; Scharber, M. C.; Nickel, B.; Kaltenbrunner, M. Elucidating the Origins of High Preferential Crystal Orientation in Quasi-2D Perovskite Solar Cells. Advanced Materials 2023, 35 (5), 2208061. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202208061
  • Doherty, T.; Nagane, S.; Kubicki, D. J.; Jung, Y. K.; Johnstone, D. N.; Iqbal, A.; Guo, D.; Frohna, K.; Danaie, M.; Tennyson, E. M.; MacPherson, S.; Abfalterer, A.; Anaya, M.; Chiang, Y.-H.; Crout, P.; Ruggeri, F. S.; Collins, S.; Grey, C. P.; Walsh, A.; Midgley, P.; Stranks, S. D. Stabilized Tilted-Octahedra Halide Perovskites Inhibit Local Formation of Performance-Limiting Phases. Science 2021, 374 (6575), 1598–1605. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl4890
  • Nagane, S.; Macpherson, S.; Hope, M. A.; Kubicki, D. J.; Li, W.; Verma, S. D.; Orri, J. F.; Chiang, Y.-H.; MacManus-Driscoll, J. L.; Grey, C. P.; Stranks, S. D. Tetrafluoroborate-Induced Reduction in Defect Density in Hybrid Perovskites through Halide Management. Advanced Materials No. 2021, 2102462. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.20210246
  • Kubicki, D. J.; Prochowicz, D.; Hofstetter, A.; Zakeeruddin, S. M.; Grätzel, M.; Emsley, L. Phase Segregation in Cs-, Rb- and K-Doped Mixed-Cation (MA)x(FA)1–XPbI3 Hybrid Perovskites from Solid-State NMR. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139 (40), 14173–14180. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b07223

Review article

  • Kubicki, D. J.; Stranks, S. D.; Grey, C. P.; Emsley, L. NMR Spectroscopy Probes Microstructure, Dynamics and Doping of Metal Halide Perovskites. Nat Rev Chem 2021, 5 (9), 624–645. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-021-00309-x.
  • J. Dahlman, C.; J. Kubicki, D.; Manjunatha Reddy, G. N. Interfaces in Metal Halide Perovskites Probed by Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2021, 9, 19206–19244. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1TA03572J.
  • Lin, Q.; J. Kubicki, D.; Omrani, M.; Alam, F.; Abdi-Jalebi, M. The Race between Complicated Multiple Cation/Anion Compositions and Stabilization of FAPbI3 for Halide Perovskite Solar Cells. Journal of Materials Chemistry C 2023. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2TC04529J.