Dr. Ji Ma is the research group leader in the Chair of Molecular Functional Materials at Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden. He received his Master's degree in Polymer Chemistry from Fudan University, China. In 2015, he joined the group of Prof. Xinliang Feng in Technische Universität Dresden as a PhD student, and received his doctorate degree in Synthetic Chemistry with highest honor (Summa Cum Laude) in November of 2019. After that, he was appointed as a research group leader for the synthetic carbon subgroup in the Chair. In November 2022, he joined the Department of Synthetic Materials and Functional Devices (SMFD) at Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle as the research group leader. Academic Employment 11/2019-present: Research Group Leader, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany. 11/2022-present: Research Group Leader, Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Germany. Honors Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad (2019) Excellent graduate student award by city of Shanghai, China (2015) Excellent Student Award of Fudan University (2014) Poster Prize at the 2nd WACKER-RSC International Symposium (2014) National Scholarship (2014) Campaign winner, the activity of exploring the SHELL DNA, Shell (2014)

His research interests are the precision synthesis of novel polycyclic hydrocarbons with intrinsic π-magnetism, curved and chiral nanographenes, graphene nanoribbons with new topology, and heteroatom-doped carbon nanostructures as well as their applications in organic optics, nanoelectronics and the emerging organic spintronic fields.

L. Yang, Y. Ju, M.A. Medel, Y. Fu, H. Komber, E. Dmitrieva, J.-J. Zhang, S. Obermann, A. G. Campaña, J. Ma, X. Feng Helical Bilayer Nonbenzenoid Nanographene Bearing a [10]Helicene with Two Embedded Heptagons Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2022, 61, e202216193. W. Niu, J. Ma, X. Feng Precise Structural Regulation and Band-Gap Engineering of Curved Graphene Nanoribbons Accounts of Chemical Research, 2022 X. Wang, J. Ma, W. Zheng, S. Osella, N. Arisnabarreta, J. Droste, G. Serra, O. Ivasenko, A. Lucotti, D. Beljonne, M. Bonn, X. Liu, M. R. Hansen, M. Tommasini, S. De Feyter, J. Liu, H. I. Wang, X. Feng Cove-Edged Graphene Nanoribbons with Incorporation of Periodic Zigzag-Edge Segments Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 228-235. F. Wu, J. Ma, F. Lombardi, Y. Fu, F. Liu, Z. Huang, R. Liu, H. Komber, D. I. Alexandropoulos, E. Dmitrieva, T. G. Lohr, N. Israel, A. A. Popov, J. Liu, L. Bogani, X. Feng Benzo-Extended Cyclohepta[def]fluorene Derivatives with Very Low-Lying Triplet States Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202202170. J.-J. Zhang, L. Yang, F. Liu, Y. Fu, J. Liu, A. A. Popov, J. Ma, X. Feng A Modular Cascade Synthetic Strategy Toward Structurally Constrained Boron-Doped Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2021, 60, 25695. S. Mishra, G. Catarina, F. Wu, R. Ortiz, D. Jacob, K. Eimre, J. Ma, C. A. Pignedoli, X. Feng, P. Ruffieux, J. F.-Rossier & R. Fasel Observation of fractional edge excitations in nanographene spin chains Nature, 2021, 598, 287. F. Lombardi, J. Ma, D. I. Alexandropoulos, H. Komber, J. Liu, W. K. Myers, X. Feng, L. Bogani Synthetic tuning of the quantum properties of open-shell radicaloids Chem 2021, 7, 1363-1378. J. Ma, Y. Fu, E. Dmitrieva, F. Liu, H. Komber, F. Hennersdorf, A. A. Popov, J. J. Weigand, J. Liu, X. Feng Helical Nanographenes Containing an Azulene Unit: Synthesis, Crystal Structures, and Properties Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2020, 132, 5686. . F. Lombardi, A. Lodi, Ji Ma, J. Liu, M. Slota, A. Narita, W. K. Myers, K. Müllen, X. Feng, and L. Bogani, Quantum units from the topological engineering of molecular graphenoids Science, 2019, 366, 1107. J. Ma, J. Liu, M. Baumgarten, Y. Fu, Y.-Z. Tan, K. S. Schellhammer, F. Ortmann, G. Cuniberti, H. Komber, R. Berger, K. Müllen, X. Feng A Stable Saddle-Shaped Polycyclic Hydrocarbon with an Open-Shell Singlet Ground State Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2017, 56, 3280.