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Jan Balajka

Contact Information

  • Institute of Applied Physics, TU Wien
    Wiedner Hauptstrasse 8-10/134, 1040 Wien, Austria
  • Phone: +43-1-58801-13466 (lab -13456, -13482, -13486)

Professional Experience and Education

  • 2020 - Assistant Professor (University Assistant), TU Wien, Austria
  • 2019-2020 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. (Advisor: Melissa A. Hines)
  • 2013-2018 Ph.D. in Physics, TU Wien, Austria (Advisor: Ulrike Diebold)

Awards

  • 2019 Loschmidt Prize of Physical Chemistry Society, Austria

Research Interests

World's cleanest water droplet

  • Interaction of oxide surfaces with liquid water
  • Scanning probe microscopy (AFM/STM)
  • Solid-liquid interfaces

Research Team

WatFun Team Our team explores the interaction of water with solid surfaces. The experiments span from fundamental adsorption studies under ultrahigh vacuum to reactions with complex environments of liquids and high pressures of gases. Through the experiments, we gain a better understanding of materials' structure and stability under realistic conditions. We strive to unveil the origins of natural processes in the environment and to improve technological processes occurring at the solid-liquid interface. We use scanning probe microscopy (STM/AFM) to study the structure with atomic precision in combination with chemically sensitive spectroscopic methods (XPS, LEIS) and electron diffraction (LEED). We have constructed an apparatus capable of dosing ultrapure liquid water on samples prepared and characterized under ultrahigh vacuum without exposing them to air, thus eliminating the spurious effects of air-borne impurities.

Selected Publications

surface/group/balajka/index.txt · Last modified: 2023-11-17 16:30 by Jan Balajka