Regional Focus Australia & New Zealand
Newsletter Number 2, 30th November 2012

Front cover and inside cover photos from Anton Sadovoy and Sergey Gorelik

APA Newsletter Number 2, 30th November 2012

Contents
1. Contents …………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
2. Preface by the Presidents of APA ……………………………………………….. 2
3. Forward ……….……………………………………………………………………………. 3
4. APA News ………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
5. Upcoming conferences …………………………………………….……………..…. 5
6. Conference Reports ……………………………………………….………………….. 9
7. Regional Focus ‐ APA Australia …………………………………….….………… 17
8. Submission of Materials to APA Newsletter ………………………………. 22

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APA Presidents’ Preface
Professor Minjoong Yoon & Professor Ken Ghiggino
Retiring President's Message
Professor Minjoong Yoon,
Dear respected members of the APA;
Greetings! The end of 2012 is just round the corner. At the end of this December, I will
step down from the presidency of the Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Association(APA) which I served for the two years. Hereat, I would like to express my sincere
gratitude to all the APA councilors and all the members in eight regional societies for theirstrong supports for the executive committee to be able to manage the APA smoothly
without any big problem.
In reality, for the last two years the executive committee has made many efforts for new
attempts to improve the APA profile. The first attempt was to clarify the administrativebasis by amending the Consititution of the Association through change of some items suchas the objectives of APA (section 2), council and executives (section 4) and finance(section 5) at the councilors meeting held in Beijing last year. Particularly, the change of the section 4 bysubdividing the local society categories and reducing the term of councilors and executive committee members from
3 years to 2 years is expected to open channels to encourage each local society to promote the members. Also theAdvisory Board became one of the official organs of the APA to advise the executive committee and councilor
meeting officially for the sound advancement of the APA. The second attempt was to improve the APA network byreconstruction of the APA website and publication of the APA Newsletter for the activation of the regional scientificactivities and communications for the promotion of international collaboration between the APA members in
different communities. I would like to acknowledge great contributions of Professors Hiroshi Fukumura and Hiroshi
Miyasaka and Dr. Jonathan Hobley in this matter.
The APA also supported major international conferences such as the XXV International Conference on
Photochemistry and the annual Korea‐.Japan Symposium on Frontier Photoscience which were held at Beijing andSeoul, respectively in 2011, cooperating with European Photochemistry Association (EPA) and Inter American
Photochemical Society (I-APS) in selection of the Porter Medal awardee and Hammond prize. The most highlighted
activity was the 7th Asian Photochemistry Conference (APC-2012) held at Osaka from November 12 to 15 this year,
which was a very successful festival of the Asian and Oceanian photochemical community not only in terms ofrecord number of participants over 320 but also in terms of the highest quality of papers presented enough tostimulate the world photochemical societies. It is also noticeable that Masuhara Lectureship Award was inaugurated
in honor of Professor Hiroshi Masuhara, the Founding President of the APA in addition to the traditional APA
award and prizes. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the organizing committee and chairpersons, Professor
Tetsuro Majima and Professor Noboru Kitamura. During this conference, we elected new executive committee
members including the president, Professor Ken Ghiggino for the term of 2013-2014. I believe that the new
executive committee members and councilors continue to cooperate and support the sustainable advancement of the
APA.
Finally I wish all the APA members have a Happy New Year 2013 with great prosperity and good health.

2New President of the Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Association’s message Professor Ken
Ghiggino
As the incoming President of the Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Association(APA) I look forward to working with the Executive, Councilors and all members
to promote photochemistry activities in our region. I wish to acknowledge theconsiderable contributions of our previous president, Prof Minjoong Yoon, whichhave further lifted the profile of the APA and expanded its activities. The APA has
now established a regular series of biennial conferences, website, and newsletterthat provide opportunities for photochemists in the region to network andcommunicate. The prestigious APA prizes, awards and lectureships also allow
recognition of the excellent work of both young and established photochemistryresearchers.
I look forward to working with the APA Councilors over the next 2 years to realize the program of
activities that have already been set in place and to develop new opportunities to promote interactions
between photochemistry researchers in the APA member countries. I encourage all members to provide
suggestions to their local Councilors on additional ways the APA can assist promote photochemistry
activities and enhance collaborations.

Forward
In this November 2012 issue we have compiled some APA news derived fromdecisions made at the APA councilors 7th APC meeting held in Osaka earlier in
November. We also summarize the conference and especially acknowledge those
whose great works in photochemistry had been honored by the range of APA prizes
given out at the APC meeting. The APC provided a valuable forum for interactions
between the member regions, so special thanks must be given to Professor Kitamura
and Professor Majima, as well as all of the other organizing team and the helpers, forarranging such a smooth event.
In addition in this issue we will have a regional focus on Australia and New Zealandso that we can learn what happens in photochemistry “down-under” or as they may
feel “up-on-top”. We hope that by introducing the activities of the regions we canfurther enhance collaborations with the APA community.
Finally we will announce upcoming events and review some events that have occurred between now and the lastNewsletter in April. We hope you enjoy this November’s issue. I wish to give many thanks to everyone who has
contributed to this issue, providing text and photos. Have a very happy new-year.

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APA News.
.

New executive members.
Executive members for 2013-2014
President; Ken Ghiggino,
Vice Presidents
Hiroshi Miyasaka
Vivian Wing-Wah Yam,
Secretary Treasurer
Kiyomi Kakiuchi

Professor Ken Ghiggino, one of photochemistry’s “big guns” willtake over as APA President in 2013
Subscription of J. Photochem. Photobiol. C.
APA has been subscribing 57 copies of J. Photochem. Photobiol. C on the basis of the regulation of “1 copy / eachregion + 1 copy / 10 members in each region (except for Japan)”. But, internet access is now available in many
areas and the cost of the subscription is quite large. So, we decided to change the subscription number to 1 copy /1 councilor (except for Japan). APA has not been assisting the subscription for councilors in Japan because they
subscribe to this journal from JPA. Elsevier will directly send a copy to each councilor in 2013.
Reduction of the membership fee.
On the basis of the decrease of the subscription number of J. Photochem. Photobiol. C and the financial balance,
we decided to reduce the membership fee to 2 USD / year from 3USD / year.
Masuhara Lectureship Award
Initially it was decided that there would be 1 winner of this award was every 2 years (the winner receiving 100,000
JPY for the travel aid). However it has been decided to change this to 2 lecturers / 2 years (at least one from Asiaand Oceania) and each winner will receive 100,000 JPY for travel aid.
Advisory Members for 2013-2014.
On the basis of the Constitution 4‐f “The term of Advisory Board members is two years. Advisory Board members
can be reappointed.”, 7 present members were reappointed. In addition, 3 new members, Haruo Inoue, Kazuhuko
Mizuno, and Minjoong Yoon were recommended as Advisory Board Members.
Advisory board members (2013‐2014)
Akira Fujishima (Kawasaki); Osamu Ito (Sendai); Yuan‐Tseh Lee (Taipei); Sheng‐Hsien Lin (Taipei); Hiroshi Masuhara(Nara); Jai Pal Mittal (Mumbai); Keitaro Yoshihara (Tokyo); Kazuhiko Mizuno (Ikoma); Haruo Inoue (Tokyo); andMinjoong Yoon (Daejeon)
Forthcoming APC’s
The 8th APC would be held in Trivandrum in November (probably, 6 (Sunday)‐ 13 (Thursday)) in 2014
The 9th APC would be scheduled to be held in Singapore.
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Upcoming Conferences
International Conference on Photochemistry, ICP2013 Leuven Belgium.
Dear colleagues,
It is my greatest pleasure and honor towelcome you to the 26th International
Conference on Photochemistry (ICP 2013),
held in the beautiful city of Leuven, Belgiumfrom July 21st till July 26th 2013!
The
International
Conferenceon
Photochemistry has a long-standing traditionin bringing together world-leading scientists
working in all areas of fundamental andapplied photochemistry and related sciences.
The conference will be of interest to all those involved in using light to initiate and study chemical,
physical and biological processes in matter.
Topics covered include Novel developments in spectroscopy and microscopy, Single molecule
spectroscopy, Plasmonics and Photonics, Photochemistry in polymers and material science,
Photochemistry in sustainable technology, Basic photochemistry, Labels, Ultrafast spectroscopy,
Inorganic and theoretical photochemistry, Photochemistry in Biology, amongst others
The program for ICP2013 will consist of 13 plenary lectures, 34 invited lectures, more than 100 oralpresentations and 2 poster sessions; all of this is condensed into 3 parallel and 10 thematic sessions
distributed over six days. We are very happy to already announce the opening lectures on Sunday
eveningbyProfessor
StefanHellandProfessor
ThomasEbbesen.
Registration and abstract submission is now available on
the website www.ICP2013.com
Looking forward to meeting you all in Leuven in 2013,
Yours sincerely,
Johan Hofkens on behalf of the local organizing committee
Topics to be covered in the conference
Basic photochemistry (energy and electron transfer, H-bonding, salvation dynamics, aggregates)
Inorganic and theoretical photochemistry (qdots, lanthanide spectroscopy, inorganic probes, theory
and modeling)
Labels (fluorescent proteins, photochromics, photoswitches, novel organic probes)
5Novel developments in spectroscopy and microscopy (super resolution microscopy, biomedical
microscopy, non-linear spectroscopy / microscopy, correlative microscopy)
Single molecule spectroscopy (single molecule biophysics, single molecule (photo)chemistry)
Photochemistry in Biology (singlet oxygen, phototherapy, biophysics)
Photochemistry in polymers and material science (spectroscopy in confined space, polymer(photo)chemistry and spectroscopy)
Photochemistry in sustainable technology (photovoltaics, photocatalysis, green photochemistry,
environmental and atmospheric photochemistry)
Plasmonics and Photonics (SERS, photochemistry in intense laser fields)
Ultrafast-spectroscopy (coherent-control, femto and attosecond spectroscopy, femtobiospectroscopy).
Plenary speakers that confirmed(in alphabetical order)
Prof Paul Blom (Mainz, Germany); Prof Luisa De Cola (Strasbourg, France); Prof Thomas Ebbesen(Strasbourg, France);
Prof Stefan Hell (Göttigen, Germany); Prof Hiroaki Misawa (Sapporo, Japan); Prof Atsushi Miyawaki(Tokyo, Japan); Prof William E. Moerner (Stanford, USA); Prof Klaus Mϋllen (Mainz, Germany);
Prof Theo Rasing (Nijmegen, The Netherlands); Prof Gregory Scholes (Toronto, Canada); Prof PaulS. Weiss (Los Angeles, USA); Prof Jörg Wrachtrup (Stuttgart, Germany); Prof Chen-Ho Tung
(Beijing, China)
Invited speakers that confirmed(in alphabetical order)
Prof Jiro Abe (Tokyo, Japan); Prof Dario Bassani (Bordeaux, France); Prof Suzanna A. Blum (Irvine,USA); Prof Neill Branda (Burnaby, Canada); Prof Tobias Brixner (Würzburg, Germany); Prof
Alexandre Brolo (Victoria, Canada); Prof Dominique Burgeois (Grenoble, France); Prof Suresh Das(Trivandrum, India); Prof Alberto Diaspro (Genoa, Italy); Prof Hiroshi Fukumura (Sendai, Japan);Prof Thomas Gensch (Jülich, Germany); Prof Dirk Guldi (Erlangen, Germany); Prof Jasper Knoester(Groningen, The Netherlands); Prof Seiya Kobatake (Osaka, Japan); Prof Marina Kuimova(London,
UK); Prof Loredana Laterini (Perugia, Italy); Prof Yuan-Pern Lee (Hsinchu, Taiwan); Prof Yi Li(Beijing, China); Prof Stephan Link (Houston, USA); Prof Luis Liz Marzan (San Sebastian, Spain);Prof Dwayne Miller (Toronto, Canada/Hamburg, Germany); Prof Paul Mulvaney (Melbourne,
Australia); Prof Peter Ogilby (Aarhus, Denmark); Prof Michel Orrit (Leiden, The Netherlands); ProfDavid Parker (Durham, UK); Prof Marcus Sauer (Würzburg, Germany); Prof Kai Song (Beijing,
China); Prof Philip Tinnefeld (Braunschweig, Germany); Prof David Vandenbout (Austin, USA); Prof
Gustaaf Vantendeloo (Antwerp, Belgium); Prof Bert Weckhuysen (Utrecht, The Netherlands); Prof
Edwin Yeow (Singapore); Prof Kyung-Byung Yoon (Seoul, South-Korea); Prof Dongping Zhong(Columbus, USA)

6

ICMAT2013
http://www.mrs.org.sg/icmat2013/public.asp?page=home.asp
The Materials Research Society of Singapore (MRS-S) was created in 1999 as a not-for-profit organisation
to serve a rapidly emerging materials science community in Singapore. The founding President of theSociety was Prof Shih Choon Fong. The Society is affiliated with the International Union of Materials
Research Societies (IUMRS).
Since its inception the focus of MRS-S has been to promote materials science not only to researchers in
Singapore, but also to publicize the niche capabilities of local researchers throughout Asia and further
afield. To this end, the Society's major activity is the organisation of a biennial event - the International
Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies or ICMAT - that is held in June/July and attracts
more than 2000 delegates from all over the world.

Of particular note this year are the following Symposia:
Symposium DD - Nanostructures for Bio Sensing and Detection Chairs - Bengang XING, Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore; Edwin YEOW, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore CoChair - Xing Yi LING, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Symposium K - Ultrafast Dynamics in Molecules, Nanostructures and Interfaces - Chair Gagik
GURZADYAN, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Co-Chairs Guglielmo LANZANI, Center
for Nano Science and Technology @Polimi, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy Cesare SOCI, Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore Tze Chien SUM, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Zhigang SHUAI, Tsinghua University, China
7

Gordon Research Conference on Photochemistry GRC July 14 - 19 2013 &Gordon Research Seminar on Photochemistry (Solar Energy Conversion and Light
Harvesting) GRS July 13-14, 2013.
You can apply now to the GRC using this link: https://www.grc.org/application.aspx?id=11811
and to the GRS using this link: https://www.grc.org/application.aspx?id=14808
This year’s GRC-Photochemistry which will be held from July 14 - 19 at Stonehill College in Easton,
Massachusetts.
Bern Kohler (kohler@chemistry.montana.edu), co-Chair
Andrei Kutateladze (andrei.kutateladze@du.edu), co-Chair
Session Topics: Electron Transfer in Photochemistry; Photoassisted Synthetic Chemistry; Reaction
Mechanisms; Photobiology; Imaging: Molecules and Methods; Solar Energy Conversion; Materials
Photochemistry; Spectroscopy and Dynamics; Supramolecular Photochemistry.

8

Conference Reports.
7th APC – Asian Photochemistry Conference 2012. Osaka Japan
http://photochemistry.jp/apc2012/
By Professor Tetsuro Majima & the Editor

The 7th Asia and Oceania Conference on Photochemistry 2012 (APC2012) was held by co-chairs, Tetsuro
Majima and Noboru Kitamura, in Icho Kaikan, Osaka University, Suita, Japan, from November 12th to
15th, 2012. 276 participants working in the fields of photochemistry and related areas gathered from 14
countries. There were 4 plenary lectures, 16 invited lectures, 73 oral talks, and 158 posters. Five young
researchers were selected for Langmuir Poster Awards.
The conference was held over four days and the topics covered included General photochemistry andphotobiology, Synthetic photochemistry, Coordination photochemistry, Theoretical photochemistry,Supramolecular photochemistry, Biophysical photochemistry, Photodynamic therapy, Chemistry andphysics in intense laser fields, Ultrafast photochemistry and photophysics, photobiology, Femtochemistry
and femtosecond spectroscopy, Single molecule spectroscopy, Time-resolved X-ray analysis,
Environmental photochemistry, Singlet oxygen photochemistry, OLEDs and PLEDs, Solar Energy
Conversion, Solar UV radiometry and Skin Cancer.
The program included two poster sessions, and in addition there was a welcome reception on the 12th
November, as well as an excursion and banquet on the 14th of November. On the 13th of November there
was an APA award ceremony and an additional seven talks given by young scientist APA prizewinners.
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APA Awards
The 7th APC provided the forum in which the APA awards for 2011 and 2012 were awarded. This timeround there was the inaugural APA Masuhara award, two APA-awards and one APA distinguishedachievement award. For the young scientists there were 7 awards this time round. This is because thecaliber of the nominees was so high that it was decided, rather than split the result on a hair-width result,
we should honor the great achievements of the young scientists by awarding an extra prize. The awards
given at the APC are listed below.
APA Masuhara Award
Awardee: J. Hofkens Katholieke University Leuven
Talk Title: The power of one: What can we learn by looking at single molecules?
APA AwardAwardee: Pi-Tai Chou National Taiwan University
Talk Title: Harvesting materials; New insights into fundamental and applications
APA AwardAwardee: S. Das National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology
Talk Title: Photoresponsive soft materials
APA Award for the Distinguished Achievement.
Awardee: Kazuhiko Mizuno Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) for Developments inSynthetic Organic Photochemistry and Distinguished Achievements to the APA

The APA and APA Young scientist awardees
APA Young Scientist Awards
Young Scientist Awards for 2011
Awardee: Cheng Yang Osaka University, Sichuan University. Talk Title: Supramolecular
photochirogenesis with native and modified cyclodextrins
Awardee: Katsuyoshi Ikeda Hokkaido University. Talk Title: Plasmonic spectroscopy andphotochemistry at atomically defined metal surfaces

10

Awardee: Syoji Ito Osaka Univeristy. Talk Title: Localization of photochemical reactions in solution withradiation pressure
Young Scientist Awards for 2012
Awardee: Timothy William Schmidt University of Sydney. Talk Title: Photochemical upconversion forthin film solar cells
Awardee: Sobhan Sen Jawaharlal Nehru University. Talk title: Understanding dynamics and interactions
in DNA.
Awardee: Justin Hodgkiss University of Victoria Wellington. Talk Title: Optical probes of photocurrent
generation in organic photovoltaic cells
Awardee: Satoshi Habuchi King Abdulla University of Science and Technology. Talk Title: Single
molecule studies in polymeric materials
Langmuir Poster Awards:
Awardee: Mr. Kojirou Fuku (Osaka University, Japan)
Poster: PII-37 "Enhanced Catalytic Performance by Localized Surface Plasmon
Resonance of Size-controlled Ag Prepared on Mesoporous Silica Using Microwave
Heating" K. Fuku, R. Hayashi, T. Kamegawa, K. Mori, and H. Yamashita (Osaka
University, Japan)
Awardee: Ms. Heather F. Higginbotham (Monash University, Australia)
Poster: PI-38 "Development of Water-soluble Substituted Naphthalene Diimides for
Biological and Single Molecule Applications" H. F. Higginbotham, C. Yeung, L.
Martin, S. J. Langford, and T. D. M. Bell (Monash University, Australia)Awardee: Mr. Pyosang Kim (Yonsei University, Korea)
Poster: PII-55 "The Relationship between Exciton Delocalization and Excited-state
Conformational Dynamics in Linear and Cyclic -Conjugated Oligothiopehenes" P.
Kim, M.-C. Yoon, M. Iyoda, and D. Kim (Yonsei University, Korea and Tokyo
Metropolitan University, Japan)
Awardee: Mr. Xu Shi (Hokkaido University, Japan)
Poster: PII-31 "Plasmon Resonant Enhanced Photocurrent Conversion and Water
Oxidation with Gold Nanoisland Loaded Titanium Dioxide Photoelectrode" X. Shi,
K. Ueno, and H. Misawa (Hokkaido University, Japan)
Awardee: Dr. Kym Lewis Wells (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Poster: PI-36 "Spectral Diffusion in Chlorophyll a Measured by 2D Optical
Spectroscopy" K. L. Wells, Z. Zhang, J. Rouxel, and H.-S. Tan (Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore)11

Conference excursion. 大阪城, Ōsakajō 14th Novemebr 2012

The conference excursion was to Osaka Castle and was attended by many of the international delegates,
despite the cold weather – which some of us found to be a pleasant change from our tropical homes.
The tour to Osaka castle started at ~3-00pm with a bus ride from the conference site to the castle. In ahighly civilized manner beer was served on the bus. After arrival at the castle car-park a short 10 minute
walk found us all shivering our way into sight of the castle, where we stopped for a brief photo-shoot.
Then on into the warmth of the castle itself where there is a multistory museum depicting the history of thecastle. From floor to floor we could learn the following:
Osaka Castle was an emblem of the power of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, which was built in 1583. Hideyoshi,
used the castle as his stronghold from which he ended a series of wars which had continued for more than
one century, unifying the entire nation of Japan. After Hideyoshi died, his chief retainer, Ieyasu
Tokugawa, became Shogun and establishing the Shogunate in Edo (Tokyo). In 1615, Ieyasu destroyed the
Toyotomi family and Osaka Castle during the Summer War of Osaka.
Tokugawa reconstructed Osaka Castle and his descendents controlled it until 1868, when the Tokugawa
Shogunate lost power. In 1931, the Main Tower of the Castle was reconstructed in the center of Osaka
Castle, with funds raised by citizens. The current Main Tower is the third generation. It follows after theMain Toyotomi Tower, which was destroyed during the Summer War of Osaka, and the Tokugawa tower,
which was struck by lightning and was burned down.
The trip was a great success enjoyed by
all who attended. After the trip the bus
returned the delegates for the banquet.
The banquet began at 18-30 and was
opened by APA President Minjoong
Yoon. After an excellent buffet spread andplenty of Sake the party ended at 8-30pm
allowing the delegates some time to rest
for the next day’s sessions.
Many thanks are owed to Professor
APA President Professor Minjoong Yoon opens the APC Majima, Professor Kitamura and theirorganizing team and helpers!
Banquet12

CAV2012 International Conference on Cavitation 13th – 16th August 2012
http://www.cav2012.sg/

CAV2012 was held in Singapore this year and attracted ~300 delegates from mainly overseas. The event
was held in Novtel in Clark Key, which is a popular drinking and eating area next to the Singapore River.
The event was highly successful thanks to the hard work of the two Chairs, Professor Khoo Boo Cheong
and Professor Claus Dieter Ohl. Also the event was assisted by sponsorship from Dynamic, Zugo
Photonics, Specialised Imaging, Newport, CAD-IT Consultants, Springer, Nanyang Technological
University and Lam Research. As a result of the good attendance and generous sponsorship the event
carried several social gatherings with plentiful food and drinks.
Subjects of interest to photochemists were covered, including sono-luminescence, laser-materialinteractions, photoacoustics etc. etc. The entire proceedings are available free of charge at the following
web-site: http://cav2012.sg/proceedings/index.html (click on the table of contents link).

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International Symposium on Green Photonics for Photon-Harvesting
Materials and Interactions.
From Kiyomi Kakiuchi NAIST.
We had a small international symposium after APC 2012 here, at Nara Institute of Science andTechnology (NAIST) inviting three the APC attendees, Prof. Michael Oelgem ller, Prof. Eric Wei-Guang
Diau, and Prof. K. George Thomas (see, http://mswebs.naist.jp/greenphotonics/isgp2012/index.html). The
venue was the Millenium Hall at Nara Institute of Science and Technology.

Green Photonics is a pertinent research topic in the field of materials science, which draws on science andtechnology for efficient use and generation of photons with various kinds of nanometer-scaled materials.
The Graduate School of Materials Science, in the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, (NAIST) has
successfully launched an initiative research project for Green Photonics Research in 2011 under
governmental financial support. The International Symposium on Green Photonics for Efficient PhotonHarvesting Materials and Reactions was held as a part of this research project. This symposium provided
all participants with a precious chance to touch advanced scientific topics and scope for future research inmaterials science, ultimately contributing to the sustainable and lasting development of our societies.

GSAS Session on Organic Solar Cells, Taipei, Taiwan, Sept 18-21
From Evan Williams IMRE.
The Global School for Advanced Studies (GSAS) held a session on Organic Solar Cells from September
18-21, 2012. The Workshop was held at the National Taiwan University under the Co-Directorship ofProf. Wei-Fang Su (Materials Science and Engineering Department).
Session topics included the rational design of molecular and polymer materials, spectroscopy andcharacterization, and device fabrication including large area organic photovoltaics (OPV). These topics
allowed for an all-inclusive evaluation and discussion on OPV processes and technology as evidenced bytalks given by: Prof. Luping Yu (University of Chicago, Chemistry Dept.) on Organic Single MolecularJunction and Bulk Heterojunction leading into How to design highly efficient low band gap solar cellpolymers; Prof. Kilwon Cho (POSTECH, Department of Chemical Engineering) on High Efficiency
Organic Photovoltaic Solar Cells via Nano-Morphology Control of Photoactive Layers; and Dr. Yulia
14

Galagan (Holst Centre) on Large Scale Manufacturing. The complete list of speakers and lectures can befound athttp://www.gsasprogram.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=121&Itemid=603.
The session program included roughly two days for lectures and a day and a half for session scholars todevelop and present research proposals. This lead to a very dynamic and intense workshop atmospherewith extensive interaction between the session scholars and fellows. The research proposals were wellreceived and opportunities to carry out the proposed research at laboratories in Taiwan are being pursued.
The local organizers provided tremendous hospitality with wonderful dining experiences and a tour of thenational palace museum and the Danshu waterfront area.
GSAS was launched in 2006 under the directorship of Prof R.P.H. Chang (Professor of Materials Scienceand Engineering, Director of Materials Research Institute, Northwestern University) and is jointly operated
and funded by international partners.
Previous GSAS sessions include sessions on
advanced solar cells held in Taiwan (2006)
and Australia (2008) and a session ongraphene, held in France (2011). GSAS has
a stated dual mission to 1. Address global
challenges such as energy, environment,
health, and security, and 2. Build global
leadership by providing young researcherswith opportunities to collaborate acrossdisciplines and within intercultural settings.
More information about GSAS can be foundat http://www.gsasprogram.org/.

The third edition of the MRS Trilateral Conference on Nanotechnology
Applications in Energy, Water, and Healthcare, Mumbai, India, Nov 19-21
From Evan Williams IMRE.
The Materials Research Societies (MRS) of Singapore (MRS-S), China (C-MRS) and India (MRSI)
gathered at IIT Bombay from Nov 19-21, 2012 for the third edition of the MRS Trilateral Conference on
Nanotechnology Applications in Energy, Water, and Healthcare; the previous editions were held in
Singapore (2010) and Shanghai, China (2011). Talks on methods and technology for cleaning drinking
water by Prof T. Pradeep (IIT, Madras) and Prof. Tai-Shung Chung (National University of Singapore)15

inspired great discussion. Other exciting talks included dr. Baldev raj’s talk on “paradigm changes infunctionalizing engineering surfaces for corrosion mitigation”, Prof Pooi See Lee (Nanyang Technological
University) talk highlighting electrochromic materials for advanced energy devices, and Prof. Hui Ming
Cheng’s (CAS) talk on “Energy storage of graphene-based materials”.

Clockwise from top left, Conference delegates at the temple of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihariji, violin recitalby Ms. Sunita Bhuyan, sculpture inside a cave on Elephanta Island, the Gateway of India and the Taj
Hotel.
The hospitality was fantastic with nightly cultural performances including a Kathak dance recital by Mrs.
Ranjana Phadke and a violin recital by Ms. Sunita Bhuyan, lab tours of the Centre of Excellence inNanoelectronics, buffet dinners in the garden and city tours including stops at the temple of Sri Sri RadhaRasabihariji, Juhu Beach, and a trip to Elephanta Island.

16

Regional Focus – APA Australia & New Zealand.
Introduction to Regional Focus
The regional Focus section is intended to give information on the activities of the APA members in different areasof the Asian and Oceanian geographic location. This is an opportunity for people to disseminate and learn from theactivities in other regions. Every issue of the newsletter we will be inviting a different region to highlight a few of
their activities, big or small, so that APA as a whole can potentially interact better over the catchment area of APA
members. It is really up to the different regions to decide on the length and format of the regional focus when it
becomes their turn.
Regional Focus ‐ Photochemistry in Australia and New Zealand(Ken Ghiggino, University of Melbourne, and Michael Oelgemöller, James Cook University)
Introduction
There has been a long tradition of photochemistry research in Australia and New Zealand from the early years ofthe 20th Century and many research institutions have some programs in photochemical science. The high activity inphotochemistry not only arises from the personal interests of researchers, but from the geography which places
much of Australia in one of the highest solar flux regions on earth which has important implications for developing
solar energy conversion and storage applications but also in photo‐protection of materials. Australia and New
Zealand were foundation members of the APA and have hosted several international photochemistry meetings
including the 6th Asian Photochemistry Conference (Wellington, New Zealand, 2010) and the 22nd International
Conference on Photochemistry (Cairns, Australia, 2005). While it is not feasible to list all the photochemistryresearch programs underway in this short article, we describe below a selection of activities that we hope can be
expanded in a future edition of the Newsletter.
Major centers for photochemistry research are located in the Universities and in the national research laboratories
such as the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia and the Crown
Research Institutes in New Zealand. Often there is collaboration between organisations, both nationally andinternationally, for major research programs. We welcome opportunities for visits to our laboratories byphotochemists in the Asia and Oceania region. Some examples of research currently under way are listed below
divided into the geographical area where they are located.
New Zealand
A/Prof Gerald Smith at Victoria University of Wellington and associates at Industrial Research have been studying
the effects of bulky substituent groups on the dimerization/aggregation of a series of merocyanine molecules
which have large first order hyperpolarizabilities. Molecular aggregation reduces their bulk nonlinear
susceptibilities when incorporated into thin polymer films and may affect their photostabilities thereby limiting
their utility in nonlinear optical devices. This work has been supported by some calculations made by Prof Keith
Gordon at the University of Otago. A/Prof Gerald Smith, who’s group has been also determining the second order
hyperpolarizabilties of some related molecules, has identified photoproducts of hydroxycoumarins occurring inlignocellulosic fibres and characterised their fluorescence. These molecules may contribute to the photoyellowing
and phototendering of these materials.

17

Also at Victoria University of Wellington, Dr Justin Hodgkiss has recently arrived and built an ultrafast optical
spectroscopy laboratory. Justin’s group uses ultrafast transient absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy tointerrogate the photophysics of organic semiconductors, particularly photocurrent generation in organic solar cellmaterials.
At University of Otago, Prof Keith Gordon's group have used nanosecond time‐resolved resonance Raman toprobe excited states in metal polypyridyl complexes. They have also used resonance Raman spectroscopy to
examine the transitions of: porphyrin based systems that have utility in solar cells in collaboration with Prof Max
Crossley (Sydney), Prof David Officer and Dr Attilla Mozer (Wollongong); organic dye materials in collaboration
with Andy Holmes (Melbourne) and Prof Paul Dastoor (Newcastle); metal complexes with Prof Paul Burn's group(Queensland). Their spectroscopic work is supported by quantum calculations.
Dr Cather Simpson’s group in the Photon Factory at the University of Auckland uses ultrafast laser pulses to study
how molecules convert light to useful forms of energy, including mechanical motion and heat. Ultrafast transientabsorption spectroscopy is helping to understand how the first picosecond or two of dynamics subsequent to theabsorption of light can have a major impact on the photostability of the red lake pigments over hundreds of years,
and on the ability of self‐assembled complexes to act as hardy dye sensitizers for solar cells. Researchers in the
Photon Factory also exploit the short time scale and very high intensity of these pulses in micromachining andmicrofabrication in a wide range of academic and industry projects.
At Massey University, Dr Mark Waterland and his group exploit resonance Raman spectroscopy to probe excitedstated dynamics in the Franck‐Condon region using a time‐domain wavepacket description of resonance Raman
intensities. Mark has applied these techniques to a family of dippyrin compounds synthesized by A/Prof Shane
Telfer’s group at Massey University.
Victoria (Australia)
At the University of Melbourne a range of photochemistry based research projects are in place through theultrafast and microspectroscopy laboratories located in the School of Chemistry with lead investigators Prof Ken
Ghiggino and A/Prof Trevor Smith. These projects include photosynthetic mimics, polymer photochemistry andhigh‐resolution fluorescence microscopy. Other research programs are undertaken at Melbourne in thelaboratories of Prof Paul Mulvaney (plasmonics and nanoscience) and Prof Andrew Holmes (organic
photovoltaics) at the Bio21 Institute. At Monash University, Dr Toby Bell has recently established an active
research group in single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy while Prof Yi‐Bing Chen, Prof Leon Spiccia and Dr
Udo Bach oversee programs in dye sensitized solar cell development. At Deakin University, Prof Neil Barnett leadsa group in chemiluminescence and spectroscopy. The CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering laboratory at
Clayton has major research programs in materials discovery, characterization and large area printing of organic
photovoltaics led by Dr Gerry Wilson and Dr Scott Watkins.

Images: Time‐resolved fluorescence confocal micrographs of conjugated polymer coated wool fibres (Source: Dr
Xiaotao Hao and A/Prof Trevor Smith, University of Melbourne)18

An example of a major collaborative research program is the Victorian Organic Solar Cell consortium (VICOSC)
involving researchers from the University of Melbourne, Monash University, CSIRO and several companies
including Bluescope Steel, Securency, Innovia and Bosch with the objective to develop prototype organic solar cells
printed on plastic. This vertically integrated consortium is developing both printable bulk heterojunction and dye
sensitized solar cells and activities range from materials discovery to cell manufacturing. Further information about
the consortium is available from the website http://www.vicosc.unimelb.edu.au/ (contact: Dr David Jones,
djjones@unimelb.edu.au).

Images: Printing organic photovoltaic cells (Source: VICOSC, Melbourne)
Queensland (Australia)
The photochemical activities at James Cook University (JCU) are located within the School of Pharmacy andMolecular Sciences in Townsville. A/Prof Michael Oelgemöller’s research is dedicated to applied and green
photochemistry. His interests include the development of new photochemical synthesis tools, synthetic
photochemistry, photoinduced delivery systems and photocatalytic water treatment. His group is known for its
work on solar chemistry, i.e. the implementation of solar energy in chemical production processes, and microflow
photochemistry, i.e. photochemistry in microstructured reactors. The research interests of Prof Beverley Glass are
centered around the photo‐ and thermal stability of drug and cosmetic substances and their formulations. The
work involves investigating their in‐use stability, including the effects of transport, storage and repackaging.
Exposure of drugs to environmental conditions can cause photo‐oxidation to occur, resulting in discoloration oftablets, which may compromise the quality of repackaged drugs.

Images: Solar reactors, microflow photoreactor and photostability testing (source: JCU, Townsville).
The University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane is hosting both, the Centre for Organic Photonics and Electronics(COPE) and Centre for Biophotonics and Laser Science (CBLS). Prof Paul Burn has a long standing interest in organic
optoelectronic materials complexes for lighting and technological applications. Similarly, Prof Paul Meredith’s
activities span from conducting plastics, molecules for light harvesting and improved solar harvesting tounderstanding biological mammalian photoprotectants. Dr Evan Moore’s research interests are focused on thedevelopment of organic lanthanide complexes as emitters for applications in high technology lighting andmolecular imaging. Prof Halina Rubinsztein‐Dunlop is an expert in the fields of nano‐optics, laser science, quantum
19atom optics and laser micromanipulation. Likewise, A/Prof Mark Riley has a strong research background in the
study of vibronically coupled electronic states, essential for understanding the excited state dynamics and internalconversion processes that occur in electronically excited states before radiative or non‐radiative relaxation.
Additional photochemical research activities exist at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane.
Dr Hongxia Wang has been very active in the area of dye sensitised or semiconductor quantum dot sensitized solar
cells. Similarly, Dr Kathleen Mullen’s research interests span from supramolecular chemistry and molecular
recognition, to light activated sensors, switches and shuttles. The Applied Optics and Nanotechnology groupheaded by Dr Esa Jaatinen has been actively investigating the optical properties of noble metal nanoparticle
ensembles used as photocatalysts and surface enhanced Raman sensors. His group also has interests in Quantum
Dot (QD) microlasers for biological imaging. A/Prof Geoffrey Will has interests in photoactivated devices including
dye sensitised solar cells, photochemical synthesis, and photocatalysis. Likewise, the activities of the group by
A/Prof Dennis Arnold involve the synthesis and application of porphyrins and related macrocycles.
New South Wales (Australia)
Researchers in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney are undertaking a broad range of studies inmolecular spectroscopy and photochemistry. A/Prof Tim Schmidt has research interests in the spectroscopy ofinterstellar molecules and also in studies of materials for molecular electronics. Recently in collaboration with ProfMax Crossley a new range of efficient energy upconversion systems based on triplet‐triplet annihilation have beendeveloped and characterized. Schmidt’s group have demonstrated improvements in the efficiency of amorphoussilicon and organic photovoltaic devices using photochemical upconversion. Prof Max Crossley also has long‐terminterests in the synthesis and study of photosynthetic mimics based on light‐harvesting porphyrin arrays. The
research of Prof Scott Kable focuses on the details of photodissociation and photoisomerization mechanisms of
atmospherically relevant molecules. His work recently revealed a new photochemical route to organic acids in theatmosphere.

Images: Fluorescence resulting from energy upconversion systems based on triplet‐triplet annihilation (Source:
A/Prof Tim Schmidt, University of Sydney)
At the University of Wollongong, the activities of Prof Attila Mozer involve the development of new architectures
for donor/acceptor organic solar cells and advanced characterisation using time‐resolved and frequency
modulated optical and electrical probes.
South Australia (Australia)
In the School of Chemistry and Physics at the University of Adelaide, A/Prof Gregory F. Metha, Dr Tak W. Kee and
Dr David M. Huang work in the area of photochemistry. A/Prof Metha’s research investigates the chemical andphysical properties of nano and sub‐nano metallic particles. All the studies involve the use of laser ablation
techniques to generate metal cluster molecules in gas and solution phases, and the application of various
20spectroscopic methods to elucidate their structures and properties, particularly chemical reactivity. Quantum
computational methods are also applied to calculate structures and properties of nano‐scale particles.
Drs Tak W. Kee and David M. Huang collaborate to perform ultrafast spectroscopic experiments and molecular
dynamics simulations to elucidate the exciton migration and charge transfer processes in organic photovoltaics.
Some of the examples of recent work include using molecular dynamics simulation to understand self assembly ofpoly(3‐hexyl thiophene) to form nanofibres and the spectroscopic properties of these nanofibres. In addition,
exciton migration in the nanoparticles of the conjugated polymer MEH‐PPV was recently studied using ultrafast
fluorescence anisotropy. Using a Monte Carlo energy migration model, we were able to offer insight into theexciton hopping mechanism.
Further information about the photochemistry based work at the University of Adelaide is available from thewebsite http://www.laserchemistry.adelaide.edu.au/

Photo: A/Prof Trevor Smith (University of Melbourne) and research group members during an outing to Hanging Rock,Victoria with recent visitor Shuichi Toyouchi (from Prof Hiroshi Fukumura's laboratories, Sendai, Japan).

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