Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg appoints Olga Kasian
Olga Kasian has accepted a professorship at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU).
Dr. Olga Kasian is investigating why catalysts for hydrogen production by water electrolysis are limited in efficiency. The chemist has now accepted a professorship at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). The W2 professorship is entitled "Materials for Electrochemical Energy Conversion" and is located at the Faculty of Engineering.
Olga Kasian completed her doctorate in 2013 at the State University of Chemical Technology in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, and was awarded as best young scientist of Dnepropetrovsk region in field of chemical technology. After a first postdoctoral stay in Germany, she joined the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research in Düsseldorf as an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow in 2015. That year she got the Award of the President of Ukraine for Young Scientists. Since May 2019, she has been leading the Helmholtz Young Investigator Group 'Dynamic Electrocatalytic Interfaces' at HZB and the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nuremberg for Renewable Energies (HI-ERN).
Together with her team, she is investigating how the catalytically active surfaces change under reaction conditions, using a wide range of methods including state of the art spectroscopy techniques available at the EMIL-Lab at the synchrotron radiation source BESSY II.
- How carbonates influence CO2-to-fuel conversionResearchers from the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI) have uncovered how carbonate molecules affect the conversion of CO2 into valuable fuels on gold electrocatalysts. Their findings reveal key molecular mechanisms in CO2 electrocatalysis and hydrogen evolution, pointing to new strategies for improving energy efficiency and reaction selectivity.
- 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.