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Current Group Members


Alicia Battaglia

Ph.D. Candidate

Contact: alicia.battaglia@mail.utoronto.ca

Alicia (she/her) grew up in Brampton, ON and completed her B.Sc. at the University of Western Ontario. Her honours thesis project explored the synthesis and properties of inorganic nanoclusters supported by stable organic radicals under the supervision of Dr. Joe Gilroy and Dr. John Corrigan. She is currently investigating organic materials for energy storage applications. When not in the lab, Alicia enjoys rereading the Harry Potter series, trying out new dance classes, baking anything that involves chocolate, and petting as many cats and dogs as she can. Undercover @SeferosGroup social media coordinator.



Bryton Varju

Ph.D. Candidate

Contact: bryton.varju@mail.utoronto.ca

Bryton (he/him/they/them) grew up in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. He completed his BSc and his MSc at Simon Fraser University under the supervision of Steven Holdcroft and Daniel Leznoff respectively. His MSc thesis focused on using luminescent coordination polymers for the detection of chemical vapours. He is currently interested in the chemical recycling of conjugated polymers. Outside of the lab, Bryton likes to unwind by playing guitar, running, and rock climbing.



Eloi Grignon

Ph.D. Candidate

Contact: eloi.grignon@mail.utoronto.ca

Eloi was born in France and raised in Toronto. He found a good middle ground between the two in Montréal, where he obtained his BSc from McGill University. There, he explored high-throughput techniques for the discovery of lithium-ion battery cathode materials as well as AFM methods for the identification of gold nanostructures. He is currently investigating polymers for use in energy storage systems. Eloi’s other interests include football, hiking, reading, and cycling around Toronto.



Victor Lotocki

Ph.D. Candidate

Contact: victor.lotocki@mail.utoronto.ca

Victor grew up in the Greater Toronto Area. He completed his BSc at the University of Waterloo, and his thesis focused on the chain dynamics of pyrene-labelled poly(alkyl methacrylate)s under the supervision of Prof. Jean Duhamel. He completed his MSc at McGill University in Prof. Ashok Kakkar's group, where he synthesized redox-responsive miktoarm star polymers for drug delivery. Currently, Victor is interested in the self-assembly of polymers with complex architectures. Aside from chemistry, Victor's hobbies include tabletop games, reading, and getting lost on Wikipedia.



Hao (Tom) Xu

Ph.D. Candidate

Contact: haotom.xu@mail.utoronto.ca

Tom (Hao) was born and raised in Chengdu, Sichuan province in China and obtained his BSc. at Sichuan University. His undergraduate thesis, "Adsorption of heavy metal ions and organic dyes via polymer microparticles," was completed under the supervision of Prof. Changsheng Zhao. Currently, Tom is working on the synthesis of homodisperse oligomers and polymers. Outside the lab, Tom enjoys coding in Python, playing the piano, photography, and video games.



Peter Liu

3rd Year Ph.D. Student

Contact: peterjt.liu@mail.utoronto.ca

Peter (Jiang Tian) Liu was born in China and completed his BSc at Concordia University. After a brief period in industry, he obtained his MSc at Concordia University under the supervision of Prof. Pat Forgione. His MSc thesis focused on decarboxylative cross-coupling. He is currently interested in the synthesis of novel conjugated polymers. Outside of the lab, Peter likes to cook and collecte rare books.



Harrison Mills

Postdoctoral Fellow

Contact: harrison.mills@mail.utoronto.ca

Harrison was born and raised in Chico, California. He received his B.Sc. in Chemistry California State University, Chico in 2016 before moving to University of California, Los Angeles to begin his PhD. While at UCLA, Harrison studied the synthesis of molecules and materials containing boron cluster chalcogenides under the supervision of Prof. Spokoyny and received his Ph.D. in 2021. Harrison is now developing methods for the visible light-mediated recycling of consumer plastics and studying substituted chalcogenophenes as tunable ligands. While not in lab, Harrison can be found out exploring Toronto, or at home reading books or playing his favourite board and video games.



Heba Hamdy

2nd Year Ph.D. Student

Contact: heba.ferrag@mail.utoronto.ca

Heba grew up in Cairo, Egypt and completed her B.Sc. at Cairo University (Chemistry major). Her M.Sc. thesis project focused on the development of metal oxide nanostructures for photoelectrochemical solar energy-related applications under the supervision of Dr. Ahmad M. Mohammed and Dr. Nageh K. Allan at Cairo University and American University in Cairo. She is currently investigating organic materials for energy storage applications. Outside the lab, she enjoys spending time with her daughter and watching movies.



Jacob Przywolski

1st Year M.Sc. Student

Contact: jacob.przywolski@mail.utoronto.ca

Jacob grew up in Keswick, Ontario. He completed his BSc at the University of Toronto, where he briefly worked in Doug Stephan's group on phosphine chemistry, and did his undergraduate thesis work in Dwight Seferos' group on oligothiophene chemistry. His current focus is continuing his undergraduate thesis work on using oligothiophenes as light-absorbing materials for producing hydrogen. Outside of the group, Jacob enjoys cooking and baking, playing video games, making cocktails, and spending time with friends.



Heewon Kim

Undergraduate Student

Contact: hwon.kim@mail.utoronto.ca

Heewon grew up in Busan, South Korea. Finishing her second year in Chemistry at the University of Toronto, she joined the Seferos Group to study pi-conjugated polymers with radical side chains alongside Alicia and Bryton. Outside the lab, her hobbies include taking photographs, watching the Marvel series, and walking along the coasts in her hometown.



Jonatas Berbigier

Postdoctoral Fellow

Jonatas (he/him) grew up in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemistry at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, and his Ph.D. at the University of Saskatchewan. While at USask, he studied the indophenine reaction as a metal-free approach to synthesizing new pi-conjugated polymers. He previously worked as a research assistant at Braskem and the SENAI Institute of Innovation for Polymer Engineering. Jonatas' other interests include PC games, astronomy, and working out.



Qiao (Kim) Xi

Visiting Student

Qiao (Kim) was born and raised in Xi'an, Shaanxi province in China. Currently, she is participating in a one-year visiting program in the Seferos Group. Her home university supervisor is Prof. Zong-Qiong Lin from the Institute of Flexible Electronics at Northwestern Polytechnical University. Her research focuses on applying organic semiconductors in aqueous batteries and elucidating their ion storage mechanisms by DFT calculations and electrochemical in situ characterization. Her hobbies include climbing, biking, and hiking, or reading and cooking at home.