Humboldt Fellow new addition to Aziz team
Dr. Tristan Petit joins the Aziz-Team. Foto: T.Petit
Simulated view of a nanodiamond. © T. Petit
Starting June 1st, Dr. Tristan Petit will be joining Prof. Dr. Emad Flear Aziz’ team for a two-year postdoc. His Humboldt Foundation Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers gave Petit the option to choose his German scientific host. Ultimately, he decided on the Joint Ultrafast Dynamics Lab in Solutions and at Interfaces (JULiq) that was set up by Aziz. Says Petit: “I really wanted to be on Aziz’ team as they have a lot of collective expertise with spectroscopy in water.”
26-year-old Tristan Petit earned his Ph.D. degree at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, France, back in March of this year. His doctoral work at the Diamond Sensors Laboratory (CEA), Gif-sur-Yvette, focused on nanodiamond surface modifications to evaluate their biomedical potential. Nanodiamonds could make good “drug cabs” as they have low toxicity and their surfaces can be easily functionalized for the transport of other molecules.
Although to date, the interactions between water molecules and nanoparticles remain unclear. Petit has made it his mission to get to the bottom of these interactions: He is planning on using soft X-ray spectroscopy to study water-based dispersions of nanodiamonds “in situ” on a microjet. This may provide important clues about how these special nanoparticles behave under physiological conditions, in other words, in the body. “Thanks to the unique Lixedrom experimental setup, we’re able to conduct experiments that can’t be done anywhere else really. Ultimately, that was a strong motivating factor for me to come to Berlin,” admits Petit.
- Peat as a sustainable precursor for fuel cell catalyst materialsIron-nitrogen-carbon catalysts have the potential to replace the more expensive platinum catalysts currently used in fuel cells. This is shown by a study conducted by researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and universities in Tartu and Tallinn, Estonia. At BESSY II, the team observed the formation of complex microstructures within various samples. They then analysed which structural parameters were particularly important for fostering the preferred electrochemical reactions. The raw material for such catalysts is well decomposed peat.
- Helmholtz Investigator Group on magnonsDr Hebatalla Elnaggar is setting up a new Helmholtz Investigator Group at HZB. At BESSY II, the materials scientist will investigate so-called magnons in magnetic perovskite thin films. The aim is to lay the foundations for future terahertz magnon technology: magnonic devices operating in the terahertz range could process data using a fraction of the energy required by the most advanced semiconductor devices, and at speeds up to a thousand times faster.
- The future of corals – what X-rays can tell usThis summer, it was all over the media. Driven by the climate crisis, the oceans have now also passed a critical point, the absorption of CO2 is making the oceans increasingly acidic. The shells of certain sea snails are already showing the first signs of damage. But also the skeleton structures of coral reefs are deteriorating in more acidic conditions. This is especially concerning given that corals are already suffering from marine heatwaves and pollution, which are leading to bleaching and finally to the death of entire reefs worldwide. But how exactly does ocean acidification affect reef structures?
Prof. Dr. Tali Mass, a marine biologist from the University of Haifa, Israel, is an expert on stony corals. Together with Prof. Dr. Paul Zaslansky, X-ray imaging expert from Charité Berlin, she investigated at BESSY II the skeleton formation in baby corals, raised under different pH conditions. Antonia Rötger spoke online with the two experts about the results of their recent study and the future of coral reefs.