Prof. Stefan Hecht Ph.D.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6124-0222

Stefan Hecht heads the Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, holds the Chair for Macromolecular Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University, and is a visiting professor at the Institute for Chemistry at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He grew up in Berlin and studied chemistry at Humboldt-Universität before completing his PhD at UC Berkeley. Right after, he established his independent research group, first at the Free University of Berlin and then at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim/Ruhr, before returning to his alma mater in his hometown in 2006. In the summer of 2019 he took up his current position in Aachen.
Hecht is Associate Editor of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Organic Chemistry. He is a member of the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), the Academia Europaea and the European Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the Max Planck School “Matter to Life”. He is also a co-founder of xolo GmbH.

Organisational Affiliations

Organic Chemistry and Functional Materials

Projects

1 of 2

02/2026 - 01/2029	Contrast Agents for Volumetric Analysis of Large, Complex Nervous Systems with X-rays
10/2025 - 09/2028	Contrast Agents for Volumetric Analysis of Large, Complex Nervous Systems with X-rays
10/2025 - 06/2029	CRC 1772/1: Molecular photoisomerization within 2D materials (SP C06)
01/2025 - 12/2028	Photo-tuning membranes for molecular separation (PhotoBrane)
10/2021 - 09/2026	NFDI 31/1: FAIRmat – FAIR Data Infrastructure for Condensed-Matter Physics and the Chemical Physics of Solids
10/2019 - 09/2023	EU: Bottom-Up Generation of atomicalLy Precise syntheTIc 2D MATerials for High Performance in Energy and Electronic Applications – A Multi-Site Innovative Training Action (ULTIMATE)
07/2019 - 06/2023	CRC 951/3: Design of Functional Molecular Building Blocks for Covalent and Non-Covalent Assembly at Semiconductor Surfaces (SP A03)
05/2019 - 04/2021	AvH – Karaca
02/2019 - 09/2020	EC2/BIG_NSE
01/2019 - 12/2025	EXC 2008: Unifying Systems in Catalysis (UniSysCat)
01/2019 - 06/2022	EXC 314/1: AG Hecht
01/2019 - 12/2022	EXC 314/1: Elucidation of the photo-assembly mechanism of the native and modified water oxidation catalysts in photosystem II Biocatalytic coupling of photosystem I with FDH and CODH supercomplexes
01/2019 - 12/2022	CRC 1349/1: Indigo Switch for the Quantification of Fluorine-Specific Interactions (SP C01)
11/2017 - 12/2018	CL Katalyse II: D2.1/E1.1/E3.1
01/2017 - 12/2022	DFG-Temporary Position: Visible-Light-Responsive Molecular Materials
11/2016 - 10/2017	Feodor Lynen Return Fellowship: Bernd Schmidt
10/2016 - 09/2018	AvH Research Fellowship: Dennis Chung-Yang Huang
10/2015 - 10/2016	EXIST Start-Up Grant: Smart Surgical Gloves
09/2015 - 08/2018	AvH – Goulet-Hanssens
08/2015 - 07/2017	AvH – Valderrey Berciano