Three awards for Dr. Andreas Hutzler at EMC2024

August 25 - 30, 2024, Copenhagen (Denmark) - Andreas Hutzler won two "Best Poster Awards" and the award for "Best Scientific Image" at the European Microscopy Congress (EMC).

Two "Best Poster Awards"

Dr. Andreas Hutzler, team leader at HI ERN, convinced the jury in two categories at the European Microscopy Congress (EMC) with his two poster contributions: He was awarded the Best Poster Award in the categories "Instrumentation & Methodology" and "Physical Sciences".

In his poster contribution "Electrochemistry in LP-EM & Effects Induced by Irradiation of Metal Electrodes" (category "Instrumentation & Methodology"), Andreas Hutzler presented on behalf of his colleague Lucía Morales how the irradiation of metal electrodes with electrons affects electrochemical analyses using liquid phase transmission electron microscopy (LP-TEM). In addition to well-known effects such as electron beam-induced radiolysis, corrosion phenomena occur here, which can cause accelerated degradation of nanostructures in the vicinity of the electrodes. The study shows once again that radiation damage must be given more attention, especially in LP-TEM, to enable quantitative analyses of nanoscale processes in the future, which can also be projected onto non-irradiated liquids.

The study is an international team effort in collaboration with Prof. Joe Patterson from UC Irvine, USA, and Dr. Damien Alloyeau from CNRS in France.

He received another "Best Poster Award" for his poster contribution "Nanoparticle formation mechanisms and molecular intermediates revealed by liquid phase EM and reaction pathway analysis" in the "Physical Sciences" category. In this contribution, Andreas Hutzler showed that correlative LP-TEM and radiolysis simulations can be used to reveal previously unknown, non-classical nucleation and growth mechanisms of nanostructures. On the one hand, the observed nucleation and growth dynamics were approximated by different models and, on the other hand, the associated chemical species were identified using reaction kinetic simulations.

The study is based on a recently published paper that was developed in collaboration with Prof. Taylor Woehl from the University of Maryland, USA.

Best scientific image

The award for the best scientific image also went to Andreas Hutzler: "Colorful Proton Exchange Membrane Polymer Imaged via HAADF, ADF, and BF-STEM" and shows an artistic composition of a block copolymer for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE), which was captured by scanning transmission electron microscopy. The polymer, synthesized at HI ERN by the polymer synthesis team led by Jochen Kerres, showed exceptional properties that qualify it as an ion conductor in PEMWE.

Further information

Jiayue Sun, Birk Fritsch (shared), Andreas Körner, Mehran Taherkhani, Chiwoo Park, Mei Wang, Andreas Hutzler, Taylor J. Woehl
Discovery of Molecular Intermediates and Nonclassical Nanoparticle Formation Mechanisms by Liquid Phase Electron Microscopy and Reaction Throughput Analysis
Small Structures, 2400146, https://doi.org/10.1002/sstr.202400146

S. Auffarth, M. Wagner, B. Fritsch, A. Hutzler, T. Böhm, L. Hager, S. Thiele, J. Kerres,
Nanophase-Separated Block-co-Polymers Based on Phosphonated Pentafluorostyrene and Octylstyrene for Proton-Exchange Membranes,
ACS Materials Letters 5 (8), 2023, pp. 2039 - 2046, DOI: 10.1021/acsmaterialslett.3c00569

S. Auffarth, M. Maier, P. Martschin, M. Wagner, T. Böhm, A. Hutzler, S. Thiele, J. Kerres,
PFAS-free nanostructured proton-exchange membranes from self-cross-linking block-co-polymers, Materials Today Advances 23, 2024, Art. No. 100521, DOI: 10.1016/j.mtadv.2024.100521

More about EMC2024 on the website of the congress

Contact

Dr.-Ing. Andreas Hutzler

Team leader "Nanoanalysis of Electrochemical Processes"

Building HIERN-Cauerstr /
Room 4009

+49 9131-12538174

E-Mail