Thomas Parton

Dr. Thomas Parton is a Group Leader in the Department of Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Potsdam, Germany), where he leads research on nanoscale self-assembly and photonic materials. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge and a Natural Sciences degree from University College London and Caltech.

His research integrates three core themes:

• Self-assembly/dis-assembly of nanomaterials like cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs)
• Chirality transfer across molecular to macroscopic scales
• Optical characterization of soft matter systems using advanced spectroscopy

Key experimental systems include CNC-based photonic films with structural color and phosphorene nanoribbons with quantum properties.

Publication analysis reveals consistent focus on:

• Nanocellulose/chitin photonics (60% of recent work)
• Quantum materials like phosphorene (27%)
• Operando optical methods for energy/battery systems (13%)

Awards include:

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (2024)
• MRS Silver Medal (2022)
• ACS CELL Division Graduate Student Award (2023)
• EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship
• MAPS Faculty Medal, UCL (2015)

He leads an experimental research group investigating light-matter interactions in bio-inspired systems, with current projects on chiral nanomaterials and sustainable photonics.