CURRENT TEAM · 7 PEOPLE · 4 PHD GRADUATES TO DATE

Team

One postdoc, two PhD students and three Master students pushing the boundaries of solar-fuel photocatalysis — plus a PI who still likes being in the lab.

Principal investigator

PI · AREA LEADER, SOLAR FUELS

Asst. Prof. Dr. Alexey Cherevan, Privatdozent

MSc Lomonosov MSU (2010) → PhD summa cum laude, Univ. of Münster (2014, with research stay in the Domen group, Univ. of Tokyo) → TU Wien: Area Leader (2015), FWF stand-alone PI (2019), tenure-track Assistant Professor (2023), Habilitation in Materials Chemistry (2024). PI in the FWF Cluster of Excellence MECS. Full CV →

Current members

POSTDOC

Dr. Stephen N. Myakala

PhD 2024 (this lab). Christiane Hörbiger Award, Chemical Monthly Fellowship, Best Poster EUROMOF2023. Organic-inorganic hybrids as photocatalysts.

PHD STUDENT

Madeline Weisweiller

FFG-funded. Photoreforming of microplastics — first author of our Green Chemistry 2026 paper on PET upcycling.

PHD STUDENT

Jatin Chauhan

FWF-funded. Single-site photocatalysis within the Cluster of Excellence MECS.

MASTER STUDENT

Magdalena Ladisich

Ti-based MOFs for visible-light water purification — contributed to a JMCA publication as a Bachelor student.

MASTER STUDENT

John Oyeleye

Joined 2025.

MASTER STUDENT

Thomas Frater

Joined 2025.

PhD alumni

  • Dr. Stephen N. Myakala (2020–2024) — now postdoc in this lab. Thesis: organic-inorganic hybrids for energy and environmental applications.
  • Dr. Samar Batool (2020–2024) — Thesis: metal-chalcogen molecular clusters for light-driven hydrogen evolution.
  • Dr. Jasmin S. Schubert (2018–2023) — Otto Vogl Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Thesis: earth-abundant co-catalysts for photocatalytic H₂.
  • Dr. Sreejith P. Nandan (2017–2023) — Christiane Hörbiger Award. Thesis: all-inorganic molecular clusters for photocatalytic water splitting.

Master & Bachelor alumni

  • Madeline Weisweiller (MSc 2023) — microplastics photoreforming; stayed for a PhD in this lab.
  • Adrian Ertl (MSc 2023) — MOFs with single-metal-site co-catalysts.
  • Markus Erlacher (MSc 2023) — polymer dots for H₂; co-supervised with Uppsala University.
  • Vivien Madi (MSc 2021) — nanostructured mixed-metal oxides; now at the Austrian Institute of Technology.
  • Pablo Ayala (MSc 2020) — single-site photocatalysis; results published in Catalysts.
  • Jasmin S. Schubert (MSc 2018) — Otto Vogl Prize for the best Master thesis in Chemistry in Austria; stayed for a PhD.
  • Bachelor theses: S. Doboczky, A. Ushakov, M. Horvath, M. Ladisich, B. Schneider, A. Rottensteiner, M. Preidl, A. Lechner — several contributed to peer-reviewed papers.

Visiting researchers

  • Simon Joyson (2025) — visiting PhD, MIT Manipal, India.
  • Alaaddin Cem Ok (2023–24) — visiting PhD, Marmara University, Türkiye.
  • Lakhan (2023) — visiting researcher, Technion — Israel Institute of Technology.
  • Dr. Hanane Boumeriame (2020) — visiting PhD, University of Porto, via Ernst Mach Grant.
  • Dr. Kamonchanook Roongraung (2018) — visiting PhD, KMUTT Bangkok, Thailand.
  • + 30 internship students hosted since 2018 — summer projects from spectroelectrochemistry to MXene co-catalysts.

Join the lab

We regularly host visiting PhD students (recently from MIT Manipal, Marmara University, Univ. of Porto, KMUTT Bangkok) and offer Bachelor, Master and internship projects year-round. Cluster of Excellence positions are announced on the blog.

Interested in photocatalysis? Write to Alexey directly — motivated students are always welcome.