Sustainable Advanced Materials Research Group

People

Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Burcu Saner Okan

bsanerokan@sabanciuniv.edu

Prof. Dr. Burcu Saner Okan is Professor of Materials Science and Nanoengineering at Sabancı University. She received her B.Sc. in Chemistry from Middle East Technical University and her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Sabancı University. In addition to her academic role, she is the co-founder of NANOGRAFEN and co-founder/CTO of Euronova, working at the intersection of sustainable materials, graphene technologies, polymer composites, and advanced manufacturing. Her research focuses on sustainable graphene production from waste resources, lightweight thermoplastic composites, multifunctional nanocomposites, thermal management materials, and advanced processing technologies. She has led or contributed to 25 projects in total, including 5 ongoing and 15 completed projects at Sabancı University, as well as 5 company-based projects at Nanografen. Her portfolio includes international, national, industrial, and infrastructure projects, with roles such as principal investigator, co-PI, researcher, advisor, and project manager. Prof. Saner Okan has an extensive scholarly and innovation record comprising 74 journal publications, 7 patents, and 10 book chapters. She has also delivered 1 keynote talk and 22 selected invited talks, reflecting her international visibility in graphene, sustainability, and composite manufacturing. She has received 19 awards and recognitions, including the BAGEP 2023 award and the Mehmet Şuhubi Award (2021), and has supervised 17 graduate theses to date, including 9 Ph.D. and 8 M.Sc. theses, completed or ongoing. She also serves in editorial, reviewing, and scientific committee roles and contributes actively to the development of research and innovation ecosystems in advanced materials and manufacturing.

Current Team

Team Members

Dr. Havva Başkan Bayrak

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr. Havva Başkan Bayrak is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Sabancı University Composite Technologies Excellence Center. She received her B.Sc. (2012), M.Sc. (2015), and Ph.D. (2021) degrees in Textile Engineering from Istanbul Technical University. Her research focuses on textile engineering, electrospinning, nanofibers, nanocomposite structures, graphene, biomedical textiles, nanoparticles, and life cycle assessment. She previously worked as a Research Assistant at Istanbul Technical University for more than 8 years and conducted research as a Visiting Researcher at the University of Manchester and Ghent University. Dr. Başkan Bayrak has contributed to 6 research projects in roles including researcher, visiting researcher, postdoctoral researcher, and project leader. Her academic record includes 22 international journal articles, 1 national journal article, 21 international conference papers, 3 national conference papers, 7 book chapters, and 1 patent. Her recent work particularly emphasizes sustainable graphene production from waste resources, polymer and composite systems, electrospun nanofibers, and environmental assessment of advanced materials. She has received 6 awards and scholarships, including TÜBİTAK doctoral and international research supports, and continues to contribute to interdisciplinary materials research combining nanotechnology, sustainability, and advanced manufacturing.

Dr. Mostafa Mehdipour Aghbolagh

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Mostafa Mehdipour Aghbolagh is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Research and Application Center & Composite Technologies Center of Excellence at Sabancı University (SU-IMC). He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Nanoengineering from Sabancı University in 2025, where his research focused on the design and development of multifunctional polymer- and two-dimensional (2D) material-based composites with enhanced thermal, mechanical, and electrical conductivity properties. He obtained his undergraduate and master’s degrees in Materials Science and Engineering, establishing a strong foundation in advanced materials processing and characterization. His research interests include advanced polymer composites, interface engineering in fiber-reinforced systems, thermally conductive and multifunctional materials, and high-performance composite design. He has extensive experience in materials characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray CT scan, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and mechanical testing methods. Dr. Mehdipour has authored 16 articles published in international peer-reviewed journals, presented his work in 2 conference papers, and holds 3 patents.

Dr. Soheil Sojdeh

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr. Soheil Sojdeh received his B.Sc. in Pure Chemistry and M.Sc. in Nano chemistry from the University of Tehran, and his Ph.D. in Materials and Inorganic Chemistry from Sharif University of Technology in 2016, 2019, and 2025, respectively. During the final year of his Ph.D., he was awarded a research fellowship at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to work as a materials chemist on the design of biomaterial-based vitreous substitutes. He has extensive experience in both academia and industry, having served as a senior R&D specialist and formulation scientist in an enzyme manufacturing company and as a senior consultant on international industrial projects. His research focuses on the design and characterization of advanced functional materials, including silica nanoparticles, porous nanomaterials, carbon-based materials (CNTs, MWCNTs, rGO, carbon nitride, and graphene composites), and inorganic–organic hybrid materials such as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Sabancı University. His research interests include electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, organocatalysis, and green laser-based catalytic upcycling of waste plastics into high-value-added materials such as 2D graphene. He also has published 23 peer-reviewed journal articles and 8 conference papers in materials and biomaterials chemistry.

Dr. Yağız Özbek

Postdoctoral Researcher

Yağız Özbek received his B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Dokuz Eylül University and his M.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Marmara University, where he focused on machining-process optimization for aerospace-relevant aluminum components. He earned his Ph.D. in Manufacturing Engineering from Sabancı University as a TÜBİTAK scholarship holder, conducting research on the advanced manufacturing of composite sandwich structures through Atmospheric Plasma Activation (APA) and the integration of recycled thermoplastic composite skins. During his doctoral studies, he published three first-author articles in distinguished peer-reviewed journals, based on research conducted in close collaboration with leading aerospace and industrial stakeholders and aimed at translating advanced composite research into real-world engineering applications. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Integrated Manufacturing Research and Application Center (SU-IMC), where he leads applied R&D on fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites, with a focus on vacuum-assisted hot-press consolidation, pellet-based screw extrusion additive manufacturing (SEAM), recycling and upcycling strategies, and coating technologies for dry glass fabrics to enhance electrical conductivity. His work is further supported by advanced materials characterization and mechanical testing for the development of aerospace-grade load-bearing components.

Nihan Birgün

Ph.D. Candidate

Nihan Birgün received her B.Sc. degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from Yıldız Technical University. She earned her M.Sc. (thesis) in Materials Science and Nano Engineering at Sabancı University, where she worked on cyclopolymer-derived membranes for water treatment. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science and Nano Engineering at Sabancı University and conducts her research at the Integrated Manufacturing Research and Application Center (SU-IMC), focusing on upcycling waste thermoplastics into nanoengineered graphene and integrating these nanomaterials into lightweight, high-performance thermoplastic composites, supported by quantitative life-cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate environmental impacts and sustainability performance.

Elaheh Yousefimiab

Ph.D. Student

Elaheh Yousefimiab received her B.Sc. degree in Applied Chemistry in 2020 from Azerbaijan Shahid Madani University, Iran. She completed her M.Sc. degree in Materials Science and Nano Engineering at Sabancı University in 2025. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Nano Engineering at Sabancı University. During her M.Sc., she conducted her research at the Sabanci University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM), her thesis subject was about design and fabrication of lignin-based implantable electrospun patches for hernia repair, supported by TÜBİTAK. She is currently continuing her Ph.D. studies at the Integrated Composite Materials Center (ICM), focusing on advanced polymer composites, sustainable materials, graphene-like structures, and functional nanocomposites.

Emine Yılmaz

Ph.D. Student

Emine Yılmaz received her B.Sc. degree in Chemistry in 2021 from Istanbul Technical University. She completed her M.Sc. degree in Polymer Science& Technology at Istanbul Technical University in 2024, where she focused on bio-based polybenzoxazine synthesis and characterization, specifically examining thermosets and their structure-property relationships. Her research interests lie in advanced polymeric materials, composite systems, and functional resins, with a particular emphasis on high-performance materials for aerospace and engineering applications. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Nanoengineering at Sabancı University and is affiliated with the Integrated Manufacturing Center (SU-IMC). Her current research focuses on graphene-based materials, two-dimensional nanostructures, and advanced polymer composites, particularly the development of graphene-reinforced thermoplastic composites for lightweight automotive applications.

Ahmet Alaybeyoğlu

Ph.D. Student

Ahmet Alaybeyoğlu is a Ph.D. Candidate in Materials Science and Nano Engineering at Sabancı University and a Ph.D. Researcher at the Sabancı University Integrated Manufacturing and Composite Research Center (SU-IMC). He received his B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Gaziantep University and his M.Sc. degree in Materials Science and Nanotechnology from Bilkent University UNAM. During his master’s studies, he worked in computational materials science, applying Density Functional Theory (DFT) to investigate next-generation spintronic materials. His current doctoral research focuses on the manufacturing, impact damage, and repair behavior of Carbon Fiber Reinforced PEEK (CF/PEEK) thermoplastic composites for aerospace structures. His research interests include thermoplastic composite manufacturing, impact damage tolerance, repair techniques, interfacial bonding mechanisms, and the mechanical and thermal performance of high-performance composite materials for aerospace applications.

Süreyya Elif Çelik

Ph.D. Student

Süreyya Elif Çelik received her B.Sc. degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering in 2022 and completed her M.Sc. in the same field in 2025 from Marmara University. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Nano Engineering at Sabancı University. She is currently continuing her Ph.D. studies at the Integrated Composite Technologies Center, working on a TÜBİTAK funded project. Her research focuses on carbon fiber and aramid composites, as well as advanced polymer composites, functional nanocomposites, and sustainable materials.

Özgenur Parmaksız

M.Sc. Student

Özgenur Parmaksız received her B.Sc. degree in Materials Science and Nano Engineering from Sabancı University in 2023 and is currently pursuing her M.Sc. degree (with thesis) in the same program at Sabancı University, Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Research and Application Center. Her graduate research focuses on the upcycling of polymers and composite wastes into graphene-based nanomaterials, as well as the recycling of composites. She has contributed 1 book chapter in this field and is actively working on further scientific contributions. Previously, she worked in the power sector.

Life in the Lab