Dr.-Ing. Birk Fritsch

Birk Fritsch studied Nanoscience at the University of Kassel in Germany. During his studies, he was awarded a German excellence scholarship (“Deutschlandstipendium”). After obtaining bachelor (2016) and master of science degrees (2018) and a research internship at Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering, Birk joined Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) to pursue a PhD on beam effects in liquid phase transmission electron microscopy. During his studies, he was awarded a scholarship within the FAU research training group "In situ Microscopy with Electrons, X-rays and Scanning Probes", led by Erdmann Spiecker.

After obtaining his doctoral degree in 2023, he joined Karl Mayrhofer's electrocatalysis department at Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ). In Andreas Hutzler's team, Birk focuses on operando studies of degradation mechanisms in electrocatalysis, for which the FZJ Young Excellent Scientist Program recently awarded him.

2024

• M. M. Kovács, B. Fritsch, L. Lahn, J. Bachmann, O. Kasian, K. J. J. Mayrhofer, A. Huztzler, D. Dworschak, Electrospun Iridium-Based Nanofiber Catalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction: Influence of Calcination on Activity-Stability Relation, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2024, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c07831

• J. Sun, B. Fritsch (equal contribution), A. Körner, M. Taherkhani, C. Park, M. Wang, A. Hutzler, T. Woehl, Discovery of molecular intermediates and non-classical nanoparticle formation mechanisms by liquid phase electron microscopy and reaction throughput analysis, Small Structures, 2024, Art. No. 2400146, DOI: 10.1002/sstr.202400146

• D. Hoffmeister, S. Finger (equal contribution), L. Fiedler, T. C. Ma, A. Körner, M. Zlatar, B. Fritsch, K. Witte-Bodnar, S. Carl, A. Götz, B. Apeleo-Zubiri, E. Spiecker, S. Cherevko, A. Freiberg, K. J. J. Mayrhofer, S. Thiele, A. Hutzler, C. Van Pham, Photodeposition-based Synthesis of IrOx@TiO2 Core-Shell Catalyst for Proton-Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis with Low Iridium Loading, Advanced Science, 2024, Art. No. 2402991, DOI: 10.1002/advs.202402991

• L. A. Maurer, C. Van Pham, B. Fritsch, H. S. Jeppesen, M. Etter, A. Hutzler, R. Neder, M. Wolf, F. Auer, S. Thiele, P. Wasserscheid, Improving hydrogen release from oxygen-functionalized LOHC molecules by Ru addition to Pt/C catalysts, ChemCatChem, 2024, Art. No. e202400375, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.202400375

• L. Popp, P. Kampe, B. Fritsch, A. Hutzler, M. Poller, J. Albert, P. Schühle, Ruthenium phosphide as a promising catalyst for selective sugar hydrogenation, European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, 2024, Art. No. e202400117, DOI: 10.1002/ejic.202400117

• N. E. Traoré, T. Schikarski, A. Körner, P. Cardenas Lopez, L. Hartmann, B. Fritsch, J. Walter, A. Hutzler, L. Pflug, W. Peukert, Mechanistic insights into silver-gold nanoalloy formation by two-dimensional population balance modeling, Chemical Engineering Journal 483, 2024 Art. No. 149429, DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2024.149429

• N. Röttcher, G. D. Akkoc, S. Finger, B. Fritsch, J. Möller, K. J. J. Mayrhofer, D. Dworschak, Accelerating materials research with a comprehensive data management tool: a case study on an electrochemical laboratory, Journal of Materials Chemistry A 12 (7), 2024, pp. 3933-3942 , DOI: 10.1039/D3TA06247C

2023

• B. Fritsch, P. Malgaretti, J. Harting, K. J. J. Mayrhofer, A. Hutzler, Precision of Radiation Chemistry Networks: Playing Jenga with Kinetic Models for Liquid-Phase Electron Microscopy, ACS Precision Chemistry 1 (10), 2023, pp. 592 - 601, DOI: 10.1021/prechem.3c00078

• J. M. Linge, V. Briega-Martos, A. Hutzler, B. Fritsch, H. Erikson, K. Tammeveski, S. Cherevko, Stability of Carbon Supported Silver Electrocatalysts for Alkaline Oxygen Reduction and Evolution Reactions, ACS Applied Energy Materials 6 (22), 2023, pp. 11497 - 11509, DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.3c01717

• L. Fiedler, T.-C. Ma, B. Fritsch, J. H. Risse, M. Lechner, D. Dworschak, M. Merklein, K. J. J. Mayrhofer, A. Hutzler, Stability of Bipolar Plate Materials for Proton-Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers: Dissolution of Titanium and Stainless Steel in DI Water and Highly Diluted Acid, ChemElectroChem, 2023 Art. No. e202300, DOI: 10.1002/celc.202300373

• T. Couasnon, B. Fritsch, M. P. M. Jank, R. Blukis, A. Hutzler, L. G. Benning, Goethite Mineral Dissolution to Probe Radiolytic Water Chemistry in Liquid-Phase Electron Microscopy, Advanced Science 10 (25), 2023, Art. No. 2301904, DOI: 10.1002/advs.202301904

• 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

• B. Fritsch, A. Körner (equal contribution), T. Couasnon, R. Blukis, M. Taherkhani, L. G. Benning, M. P. M. Jank, E. Spiecker, A. Hutzler, Tailoring the Acidity of Liquid Media with Ionizing Radiation: Rethinking the Acid–Base Correlation beyond pH, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 14 (20), 2023, pp. 4644 - 4651, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00593

2022

• B. Fritsch, T. S. Zech, M. P. Bruns, S. Khadivianazar, N. Zargar Talebi, A. Körner, M. Wu, S. Virtanen, T. Unruh, M. P. M. Jank, E. Spiecker, A. Hutzler, Radiolysis-Driven Evolution of Gold Nanostructures - Model Verification by Scale Bridging In Situ Liquid-Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Diffraction, Advanced Science 9 (25), 2022, Art. No. 2202803, DOI: 10.1002/advs.202202803

• B. Fritsch, M. Wu, A. Hutzler, D. Zhou, R. Spruit, L. Vogl, J. Will, R. H. H. Pérez Garza, M. März, M. P. M. Jank, E. Spiecker, Sub-Kelvin thermometry for evaluating the local temperature stability within in situ TEM gas cells, Ultramicroscopy 235, 2022, Art. No. 113494, DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2022.11349

2021

• B. Fritsch, A. Hutzler (equal contribution), M. Wu, S. Khadivianazar, L. Vogl, M. P. M. Jank, M. März, E. Spiecker, Accessing local electron-beam-induced temperature changes during in situ liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy, Nanoscale Advances 3 (9), 2021, pp. 2466 - 2474, DOI: 10.1039/D0NA01027H

2020

• A. Hutzler, B. Fritsch, C. M. Matthus, M. P. M. Jank, M. Rommel, Highly Accurate Determination of Heterogeneously Stacked Van-der-Waals Materials by Optical Microspectroscopy, Scientific Reports 10, 2020, Art. No. 13676, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-70580-3

• L. Rickert, B. Fritsch, A. Kors, J. P. Reithmaier, M. Benyoucef, Mode properties of telecom wavelength InP-based high-(Q/V) L4/3 photonic crystal cavities, Nanotechnology 31, 2020, Art. No. 315703, DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ab8a8

2019

• A. Hutzler, B. Fritsch, M. P. M. Jank, R. Branscheid, R. C. Martens, E. Spiecker, M. März, In Situ Liquid Cell TEM Studies on Etching and Growth Mechanisms of Gold Nanoparticles at a Solid-Liquid-Gas Interface, Advanced Materials Interfaces 6 (20), 2019, Art. No. 1901027, DOI: 10.1002/admi.201901027

• A. Hutzler, B. Fritsch (equal contribution), M. P. M. Jank, R. Branscheid, E. Spiecker, M. März, Preparation of Graphene-Supported Microwell Liquid Cells for In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy, Journal of Visualized Experiments (149), 2019, Art. No. e59751, DOI: 10.3791/59751