Robust fused aromatic network polymers have attracted immense interest, because of their
electronic, optoelectronic, magnetic and electrocatalytic properties. Their tunable structures and
properties promise to offer many opportunities in various applications. However, even after years
of intensive exploration in science and technology, facile and scalable methods, capable of
producing fused-aromatic based stable network polymers with periodic holes and uniformly
decorated heteroatoms, remain very limited. Here, ultrastable fused aromatic network polymers
have been designed and synthesized as platforms for anchoring metal nanoclusters/nanoparticles
to form efficient electrocatalysts.
Jong-Beom Baek is a distinguished professor/director of the Department of Energy and Chemical
Engineering/Center for Dimension-Controllable Organic Frameworks, Ulsan National Institute of
Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea. After awarding his Ph.D. degree from Polymer
Science, University of Akron (USA, 1998), he joined the Wright-Patterson Air Force Research
Laboratory (AFRL). Then, he returned to his home country to take up a position as an assistant
professor at Chungbuk National University in 2003, before moving to UNIST in 2008. His current
research interests include the syntheses of two- and three-dimensional high-performance organic
network structures and the chemical modifications of carbon-based materials for multifunctional
applications, including energy conversion and storage. He has authored and co-authored over 260
peer-reviewed publications in the areas. He has also registered and filed over 80 international and
domestic patents. Some of them have been transferred to an industry for commercialization and
also started his own company.
Robust fused aromatic network polymers have attracted immense interest, because of their
electronic, optoelectronic, magnetic and electrocatalytic properties. Their tunable structures and
properties promise to offer many opportunities in various applications. However, even after years
of intensive exploration in science and technology, facile and scalable methods, capable of
producing fused-aromatic based stable network polymers with periodic holes and uniformly
decorated heteroatoms, remain very limited. Here, ultrastable fused aromatic network polymers
have been designed and synthesized as platforms for anchoring metal nanoclusters/nanoparticles
to form efficient electrocatalysts.
Jong-Beom Baek is a distinguished professor/director of the Department of Energy and Chemical
Engineering/Center for Dimension-Controllable Organic Frameworks, Ulsan National Institute of
Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea. After awarding his Ph.D. degree from Polymer
Science, University of Akron (USA, 1998), he joined the Wright-Patterson Air Force Research
Laboratory (AFRL). Then, he returned to his home country to take up a position as an assistant
professor at Chungbuk National University in 2003, before moving to UNIST in 2008. His current
research interests include the syntheses of two- and three-dimensional high-performance organic
network structures and the chemical modifications of carbon-based materials for multifunctional
applications, including energy conversion and storage. He has authored and co-authored over 260
peer-reviewed publications in the areas. He has also registered and filed over 80 international and
domestic patents. Some of them have been transferred to an industry for commercialization and
also started his own company.
