Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée

Responsable du Groupe Electrochimie et Couches Minces

Contact :
fouad.maroun-AT-polytechnique.edu

+33 (0)1 69 33 46 57

Research field :
I study, at the nanometer scale, the fundamental aspects of the electrochemical deposition/dissolution of ultra–thin oxide films and the properties of these films. My aim is to correlate the electrochemical and the physical properties with the local atomic environment. My main expertise is the scanning probe microscopies, X–Ray diffraction and absorption and magnetic measurements all operated in solution.

Research activity :
October 2016 : CNRS research director at the laboratory "Physique de la Matière Condensée" Ecole Polytechnique (Palaiseau France).
June 2013 : habilitation for directing research (HDR) from Versailles University
December 2000 : full CNRS researcher, from December 2000 to March 2003 at the laboratory "Interfaces et Systèmes Electrochimiques" Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris) and since 2003 at the laboratory "Physique de la Matière Condensée" Ecole Polytechnique (Palaiseau France).
October 1998 – November 2000 : postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, University of Ulm (Germany), in the group of Prof. R. J. Behm and Prof. O. M. Magnussen
September 1995 – September 1998 : PhD thesis at the laboratory "Physique de la Matière Condensée" Ecole Polytechnique (Palaiseau France) under the supervision of Dr J. N. Chazalviel and Dr. F. Ozanam.

Teaching activity :
2010 - 2017 : Master 2 Nanosciences, University Paris–Sud Orsay, in charge of the course "Mobile charges in Physics and Chemistry" (30 hours) and of the Microscopy and Magnetism practicals (35 hours).
2008–2015 : Ecole des Mines de Paris, L3 and M1 levels, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Physics and Nuclear Physics, exercise teacher, 19 hours.

Responsabilities :
Since 2017 : responsible of the “Electrochimie et Couches Minces” team
Since 2011 : elected representative of the Ecole Polytechnique research center for the Ecole Polytechnique Administration Council.
Since 2007 : responsible of scanning probe and scanning electron microscopes of the laboratory
2009–2012 : Scientific comity member of the conference "Journées Surfaces Interfaces"
2006–2010 : elected member of the laboratory council
2004–2010 : laboratory week seminar organization

Selected publications :
1 - "Unraveling the Cobalt Oxidation State at the Surface of Epitaxial Cobalt Oxide Films during the Oxygen Evolution Reaction by Operando X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy/Surface X-ray Diffraction", M. Bouvier et al., ACS Applied Energy Materials 6 (2023) 7335.
2 - "Operando Surface X-ray Diffraction Studies of Structurally Defined Co3O4 and CoOOH Thin Films during Oxygen Evolution", F. Reikowski et al., ACS Catalysis 9 (2019) 3811.
3 - "Influence of the surface chemistry on the electric-field control of the magnetization of ultrathin films", N Tournerie, et al., Phys. Rev. B 86 (2012) 104434.
4 - "Electrochemical de-alloying in two dimensions : role of the local atomic environment", A. Damian et al., Nanoscale 8 (2016) 13985.
5 - "The role of atomic ensembles in the reactivity of bimetallic electrocatalysts", F Maroun et al., Science 293 (2001) 1811.