People

Kirsten Marie Ørnsbjerg Jensen

Kirsten is an associate professor at University of Copenhagen, where she started our group in October 2015. She did her undergraduate and PhD studies at Aarhus University, where she worked in Bo B. Iversen’s group in the Center for Materials Crystallography. Following her PhD, Kirsten did postdoctoral work at Columbia University in New York in Simon J. L. Billinge’s group, using total scattering and PDF to study the structure of nanomaterials. Kirsten is leading the Nanostructure group at University of Copenhagen, focusing on mapping the relation between nanomaterial synthesis, structure and properties.

Follow Kirsten here:
Google Scholar
ResearcherID: I-9367-2012
ORCID: 0000-0003-0291-217X

Postdocs:

Adam Sapnik
afs(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0001-6200-4208
Adam received his MChem degree in Chemistry in 2018 from the University of Oxford. He then completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge. His PhD focused on the atomic structure, physical properties and formation mechanisms of amorphous metal–organic frameworks and involved using several scattering, spectroscopy and microscopy techniques. In December 2022, Adam joined our group and now investigates the formation of metal oxide clusters in solution.

Nicolas Schlegel
ns(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0001-7720-3146
Nicolas finished his PhD at the University of Bern, Switzerland, in July 2023 before joining our group. During his PhD, he investigated the electrochemical glucose oxidation reaction (GOR). In search of novel catalyst materials for the GOR, he moreover synthesized carbon-supported high-entropy alloy nanoparticles. Currently, his research involves studying the formation mechanisms of these nanoparticles and evaluating their electrochemical performance in various processes, including the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR).

Adrián Sanz Arjona
asa(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0003-3208-5929
Adrián joined our group as a postdoc in May 2022 after completing his PhD at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. During his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Peter Dunne, his research was focused on the hydrothermal synthesis of various minerals and the structural characterisation for controlling material characteristics under various synthetic conditions. Once he joined our group, he started investigating the synthesis and characterisation of amorphous oxides for applications in several fields, such as electrocatalysis. His project requires, among others, the use of X-ray diffraction methods, PDF analysis and spectroscopic characterisation of the targeted materials.

PhD students:

Rebecca Svart Silberg
rss@chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0001-5551-8796
Rebecca became part of our group during her undergraduate for a project on cerium oxide clusters. In the spring of 2022, she completed her BSc with us, investigating the behaviour of said clusters in solution and as precursors in nanoparticle syntheses. Since February 2023, Rebecca is enrolled in the integrated MSc+PhD program, where she is currently working with polyoxometalate clusters in solution. 

Emma Solé Chaos
esc(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0009-0001-3102-9784
Emma moved to Copenhagen to pursue a master in inorganic chemistry, after completing her BSc in chemistry at the University of Barcelona. She joined our group for her master thesis, where she worked on the synthesis and characterisation of high entropy oxide nanoparticles. Since September 2023, she continued her research as a PhD student. Emma’s project aims to provide improved knowledge about the formation and structure of iron and nickel-based amorphous oxides. 

Jens Edelvang-Pejrup
jep(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0002-2385-0396
Jens did his BSc project in our group investigating the relationship between synthesis and structure of layered double hydroxides. He has been enrolled in the integrated MSc+PhD program since February 2022 and works on the development of novel high entropy oxides based on earth-abundant elements. His focus lies on their application as catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. By combining several experimental approaches, he aims to relate the electrochemical properties of these materials to their atomic scale structure.

Stefanie Punke
spu@chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0001-9896-6265
Stefanie did her bachelor in physics at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and the University of Bergen in Norway. After moving to Copenhagen for her master in nanoscience, she joined our and Matthias Arenz’ group for her integrated MSc+PhD program in September 2022. Studying electrocatalytic processes in operando using X-ray scattering techniques is her main focus.

Ulrik Friis-Jensen
ufj(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0001-6154-1167
Ulrik’s expertise links nanoscience with data science and machine learning. His MSc project in our group began in August 2021 and is now continued in his PhD studies. Ulrik develops generative machine learning models, aiming to characterize metal oxide nanoparticles.

Tobias Mølgaard Nielsen
tmn(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0002-5976-9928
Tobias joined our group during his undergraduate studies and conducted a project on the synthesis of manganese dioxide polymorphs. For his BSc project he investigated the effect of synthesis parameters on the synthesis of spinel-type nickel iron oxide. In September 2020 he started his integrated MSc+PhD as a part of the Center for High Entropy Alloy Catalysis, where he is currently mapping synthesis methods for high entropy alloys, as well as studying their formation mechanisms.

Laura Glei Graversen
lgg(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0002-5964-7744
Laura began working with our group in February 2021 for her BSc project and is now enrolled in the integrated MSc+PhD program to study the formation of niobium-, molybdenum-, and tungsten oxide nanoparticles. She focusses especially on how the employed solvent influences particle size and structure.

Frederik Lizak Johansen
frjo(at)di.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0002-8049-8624
Frederik’s background is in computational physics and data science. He joined our group for his MSc project in August 2021 and is now closely collaborating with us as part of his PhD at DIKU. Frederik is working on implementing Reinforcement Learning into the characterization of nanostructures from Pair Distribution Function data.

Alumni from the group:

Laura Susanne Junkers – PhD, Graduated 2025
Andrea Kirsch – Postdoc until 2024
Freja Bech Holde – PhD until 2024
Olivia Aalling-Frederiksen – PhD, Graduated 2024
Andy Sode Anker – PhD, Graduated 2023
Rebecca Pittkowski – Postdoc until 2023, now Co-PI of CHEAC leading her own group
Maria Storm Thomsen – Postdoc until 2023
Emil Thyge Skaaning Kjaer – PhD, Graduated 2023
Nicolas Magnard – PhD, Graduated 2023
Baiyu Wang – PhD, Graduated 2023
Mikkel Juelsholt – PhD, Graduated 2021
Susan Cooper – Postdoc until 2021
Susanne Linn Skjærvø – Postdoc until 2021
Jette Katja Mathiesen – PhD, Graduated 2021
Jonathan Quinson – Postdoc until 2020, now leading his own group
Troels Lindahl Christiansen – PhD, Graduated 2019

Nanna Lærke Baun – MSc, Graduated 2024
Mathias Tegtmeier – MSc, Graduated 2024
Cecilie Bush Krogh – MSc, Graduated 2024
Line Damm Scheuer – BSc, Graduated 2024
William Wegge de Place – BSc, Graduated 2024
Mark Cloos Videbæk – MSc, Graduated 2023
Nathalie Hartman Richter-Mikkelsen – BSc, Graduated 2023
Josef Kosler – MSc, Graduated 2023
Ida Kær Mønge – BSc, Graduated 2022
Marcus Weng Nørgård – BSc, Graduated 2021
Ida Nielsen – MSc, Graduated 2021
Magnus Wied – MSc, Graduated 2021
Joakim Lajer – BSc, Graduated 2021
Nikolaj Anderson – BSc, Graduated 2021
Caroline Tynell Hansen – BSc, Graduated 2021
Laura Olivia Dalskov Frederiksen – MSc, Graduated 2020
Sultan Jusupov – BSc, Graduated 2019
Rebecca Baskaran – BSc, Graduated 2019
Elly Kim Bathke – MSc, Graduated 2018
Triana Wulandari – MSc, Graduated 2018
Joanna Symnowicz – MSc, Graduated 2018
Emil Rössing Elholm – MSc, Graduated 2017
Christina Basse Riel – BSc, Graduated 2017
Mathias Helmsøe-Zinck – BSc, Graduated 2016

Visitors to the group:

We’re happy to have hosted visitors to the group:

Guilherme B. Strapasson, at the time PhD student in Daniela Zanchet’s group at University of Campinas, joined our group for a full year during 2023 and 2024 to study nanostructured reducible metal oxides using PDF.

Susan Cooper, at the time graduate student in Jim Hutchison’s group at University of Oregon, was with us for in total 6 months during 2016 and 2017, before joining us for her postdoc.

Christoph Findler, at the time master student in Dorota Koziej’s group at ETH Zurich, visited the group to use PDF to study the formation of metal oxides.