Matthias Grotevent has held the Wübben Foundation Professorship for Colloidal Nanomaterials in the Department of Physics at TU Dortmund University since April 2026. The professorship is part of the Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems.

He previously conducted research as a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the group of Moungi Bawendi and completed his doctorate at ETH Zürich and Empa under the supervision of Maksym Kovalenko. He also brings industry experience from his role as Research Director at Active Surfaces Inc., a solar technology start-up in the Boston area—experience that continues to shape his group's work on scalable technologies with industrial partners. He is an inventor on five patents and patent applications.

Grotevent's research bridges fundamental science and industrial applications. It focuses on the solution processing of semiconductors using colloidal nanocrystal dispersions, enabling low-cost, large-area fabrication technologies. This focus on liquid-phase synthesis and processing also connects the group to the Center for Advanced Liquid-Phase Engineering Dortmund (CALEDO). Target applications include next-generation photovoltaics and miniaturized optical spectrometers, where tailored nanomaterials directly improve manufacturability and device performance.