Philippe Leclere

Background

About Philippe Leclere

Philippe Leclère received a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Liège (Belgium) in 1994. He joined the University of Mons in 1995 as a research fellow. From 2001 to 2004, he worked as a research associate and served as a research coordinator at the Materia Nova Research Center. During this period, he spent one year (2003) in the group of E.W.(Bert) Meijer at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands. In Oct 2004, he became Research Associate and in Oct 2014 Senior Research Associate of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FRS - FNRS) in the group of Roberto Lazzaroni at the University of Mons (UMONS). In October 2020, he became Research Director of FRS-FNRS. In Oct 2021, he became Professor at UMONS creating and heading the Laboratory for Physics of Nanomaterials and Energy (LPNE) at the Physics Department. In Oct 2022, he became Full Professor. Since 2003, he is still a visiting scientist at the Institute of Complex Molecular Systems at TU/e. His research interests mostly deal with the • Characterization by means of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques of the morphology and the nanoscale properties (such as electrical and mechanical properties) of organic and hybrid systems including polymer blends, nanocomposites, block copolymers, liquid crystals, hydrogels, and supramolecular (nano)structures (build by self-assembly of functional (macro)molecules). These systems are mainly studied for their use in organic electronics and energy harvesting devices (field effect transistors, organic light emitting diodes,(hybrid) photovoltaic solar cells, batteries, nanodielectrics, and (bio)sensors), automotive applications, cosmetics, and biological-based materials such as bioglue (recombinant proteins), hydrogels, bacterias, and cells. •Characterization of the piezo and flexoelectric properties of piezoelectric polymers films, nanofibers, and nanocomposites. •Development of novel SPM techniques (such as in situ electrochemical cell, in situ photoconductive atomic force microscopy, …) and methodologies to quantitatively determine mechanical and electrical properties of polymeric materials and nanocomposites at the nanoscale. •Development of Machine Learning algorithms (Python codes) for SPM data clustering, model optimization, and deep learning processes. He is (co)author of over 210 papers and many chapter books in international peer-reviewed journals (Hirsch factor: 47). He is currently President of the Royal Belgian Society for Microscopy (RBSM), President of PromOptica, President of NanoWal.