Michael S. Freund

[[Category:AfC submissions by date/<0031Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:41:00 +0000202671 2026-07-29T13:41:00+00:00Wednesdaypm0000=error>EpWed, 29 Jul 2026 13:41:00 +0000UTC00004120267 UTCWed, 29 Jul 2026 13:41:00 +0000Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:41:00 +00002026Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:41:00 +0000: 17853324607Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:41:00 +0000UTC2026-07-29T13:41:00+00:0020261741209UTC29 pu72026-07-29T13:41:00+00:0031upm314120267 2026-07-29T13:41:00+00:0001pmWed, 29 Jul 2026 13:41:00 +0000pm2026-07-29T13:41:00+00:0031UTCWed, 29 Jul 2026 13:41:00 +0000 &qu202631;:&qu202631;.</0031Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:41:00 +0000202671>July 2026|Michael S. Freund]]

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Michael S. Freund
Michael S. Freund, chemist, Dalhousie University.jpg Michael S. Freund, chemist, Dalhousie University.jpg Michael S. Freund
Born	(1964-01-12) January 12, 1964 United States
🏳️ Nationality	American, Canadian
🎓 Alma mater	Florida Atlantic University (B.S.) University of Florida (Ph.D.)
💼 Occupation
Known for	Conducting polymer sensor arrays, self-doped polyanilines, bipolar membranes for artificial photosynthesis
🏅 Awards	Harry Shirreff Chair of Chemical Research Tier 1 Canada Research Chair
🌐 Website	orcid.org/0000-0003-1104-2292

Michael Stephen Freund (born January 12, 1964) is a Canadian-American chemist and materials scientist whose research spans conducting polymers, electrochemical sensor arrays, artificial photosynthesis, and clean energy technologies. He holds the Harry Shirreff Chair of Chemical Research at Dalhousie University and serves as Director of the Clean Technologies Research Institute.

Freund has published more than 119 peer-reviewed articles and holds 28 issued United States patents and 15 international patents. He is co-author of Self-Doped Conducting Polymers (Wiley, 2007).

Early life and education

Freund received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Florida Atlantic University in 1987, where he worked under the supervision of Frank A. Schultz. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry from the University of Florida in 1992 under the supervision of Anna Brajter-Toth, receiving the Electrochemical Society's Joseph W. Richards Fellowship (1991) during his doctoral studies. He then undertook postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) from 1992 to 1994 in the laboratory of Nathan S. Lewis.

Academic career

Freund joined Lehigh University as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 1994. From 1999 to 2002, he returned to Caltech as Director of the Molecular Materials Center at the Beckman Institute.

In 2002, Freund joined the University of Manitoba as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2003 and to full Professor in 2007. He held a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Conducting Polymers and Electronic Materials from 2003, renewed in 2008, and was elevated to a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in 2013. He served as Founding Director of the Manitoba Institute for Materials (2010–2014), overseeing the establishment of shared analytical and electron microscopy facilities supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Western Economic Development Canada, and the FEI Company.

In 2015, Freund moved to the Florida Institute of Technology as Professor and Head of Chemistry, also serving as Associate Dean of the College of Engineering & Science (2017–2018). He joined Dalhousie University in 2018 as Professor and holder of the Harry Shirreff Chair of Chemical Research, becoming Director of the Clean Technologies Research Institute and receiving cross-appointments in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Physics & Atmospheric Science, and Process Engineering & Applied Science.

Research

Conducting polymers and chemical sensing

A central theme of Freund's research has been the design of chemically diverse conducting polymer-based sensor arrays that mimic the mammalian olfactory system. His 1995 paper with Nathan Lewis in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences introduced one of the first such "electronic nose" systems, drawing on the pattern recognition principles of John Hopfield's neural models of olfaction. The chemically diverse conducting polymers in the arrays were produced initially via ring-opening metathesis polymerization chemistry pioneered by Robert H. Grubbs at Caltech, and subsequently through a new approach using phosphomolybdate clusters to grow thin, processable films of polypyrrole. The work attracted coverage in American Scientist, Discover, and NASA Tech Briefs. In collaboration with Frances Arnold during his return to Caltech as Director of the Molecular Materials Center, his laboratory developed poly(aniline boronic acid) sensors for non-enzymatic saccharide detection.

Working with Kamal El-Sankary (Dalhousie University), Freund's group developed CMOS-integrated resistance sensing circuits and spiking neural network architectures for odorant recognition and concentration estimation, achieving improved energy efficiency over conventional artificial neural networks. The group also demonstrated thermally modulated and Joule-heated sensor arrays that produce differential response patterns encoding odorant identity and intensity, independent of delivery conditions.

Polymer-based memory

Working with Douglas Thomson (Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba), Freund's group demonstrated the first polymer-based resistive memory devices, exploiting compensation doping in conjugated polymers to engineer dopable heterojunctions capable of modulating conductivity in the solid state.

Artificial photosynthesis and bipolar membranes

Freund's group contributed to the design of bipolar membranes for artificial photosynthetic and electrochemical energy conversion systems. Their work, published in 2014 back-to-back with the Mallouk group, introduced bipolar membranes to enable electrolysis with a permanent pH gradient, facilitating earth-abundant electrocatalysts and the first bipolar, vapor-fed electrolyzer without precious metals. Working with Steven Holdcroft (Simon Fraser University), the group developed transparent bipolar membranes for solar-driven water splitting. Freund's group also developed in operando characterization methods for membrane electrode assemblies in electrolyzers, and published a widely cited review on bipolar membrane design in Chemistry of Materials (2020).

Electrochemically directed self-assembly

In collaboration with Gregory Ferguson (Chemistry, Lehigh University), Freund's work at Lehigh established electrochemical methods for directing the self-assembly of alkanethiol monolayers on gold substrates.

Electrochemical actuation

His group demonstrated reversible, high-performance electrochemical actuators based on conducting polymer phase transformation, which received an invited "Research News" article in Chemical Engineering and Technology (2003).

Awards and honors

• Harry Shirreff Chair of Chemical Research, Dalhousie University (2018–present)
• Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Conducting Polymers and Electronic Materials (2013–2015)
• NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement (2012)
• University of Manitoba Merit Award for Research and Service (2004, 2008, 2009, 2013)
• Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (2003, renewed 2008–2013)
• Invited "Global Emerging Investigator," The Analyst (2003)
• Electrochemical Society Joseph W. Richards Fellowship (1991)

Patents

Freund is named inventor or co-inventor on 28 issued United States patents and 15 issued international patents, covering chemically diverse sensor arrays, self-doped and switchable polyaniline materials, plasmonic devices, and wireless passive sensors.

Selected publications

Books

• Freund, M.S.; Deore, B.A. (2007). Self-Doped Conducting Polymers. Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-02969-5. Search this book on
• Kumar, M.R.; Freund, M.S. (2013). "Self-doped Polymers". Conjugated Polymers: A Practical Guide to Synthesis. RSC Polymer Chemistry Series. Royal Society of Chemistry. ISBN 978-1-84973-799-9. Search this book on

Articles

• Freund, M.S.; Lewis, N.S. (1995). "A Chemically Diverse, Conducting Polymer-Based "Electronic Nose"". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 92 (7): 2652–2656. doi:10.1073/pnas.92.7.2652. PMC 42260.
• Cameron, C.A.; Freund, M.S. (2002). "Electrolytic Actuators: Alternative, High-Performance, Material-Based Devices". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 99 (12): 7827–7831. doi:10.1073/pnas.122212299. PMC 122982.
• Deore, B.A.; Yu, I.; Freund, M.S. (2004). "A Switchable Self-doped Polyaniline: Interconversion Between Self-doped and Non-self-doped Forms". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 126 (1): 52–53. doi:10.1021/ja038499v.
• Deore, B.A.; et al. (2005). "Highly Crosslinked, Self-Doped Polyaniline Exhibiting Unprecedented Hardness". Chemistry of Materials. 17 (15): 3803–3805. doi:10.1021/cm0505392.
• Chabi, S.; Papadantonakis, K.M.; Lewis, N.S.; Freund, M.S. (2017). "Membranes for Artificial Photosynthesis". Energy & Environmental Science. 10 (6): 1320–1338. doi:10.1039/C7EE00294G.
• Giesbrecht, P.K.; Freund, M.S. (2020). "Recent Advances in Bipolar Membrane Design and Applications". Chemistry of Materials. 32 (19): 8060–8090. doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.0c02829.
• Giesbrecht, P.K.; Freund, M.S. (2022). "Investigation of Water Oxidation at IrO2 Electrodes in Nafion-Based Membrane Electrode Assemblies using Impedance Spectroscopy". Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 126 (41): 17844–17861. doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c05104.
• Murdoch, L.; et al. (2025). "Joule Heating-Driven Modulation of Analyte Partitioning in Chemically Diverse, Conducting Composite Sensor Arrays". ACS Sensors. doi:10.1021/acssensors.5c02513.

Professional affiliations

Freund has served on NSERC's Grant Selection Committee (2008–2011, co-chair 2009–2011), NSERC's Grant Selection Committee for Advancing Climate Change Science in Canada (2019), CFI's Innovation Fund Expert Committee (2017), and the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the Royal Society A (2006–2012).

External links

• ORCID profile
• Clean Technologies Research Institute, Dalhousie University

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