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.
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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.
Till Schertenleib
ts(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0003-4989-5821
Till joined the group as a postdoc in August 2025, after completing his PhD at EPFL in Switzerland with Prof. Wendy Queen. He was introduced to the PDF world by Prof. Simon Billinge during a research stay in his group in 2023, and he has since used the method to develop structure—property relationships in amorphous MOFs.
Till joined the Nanostructure group to further dig into advanced characterization methods using synchrotron X-rays and to learn more about nanoscale materials science.
Tobias Mølgaard Nielsen
tmn(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0000-0002-5976-9928
Tobias joined our group for a project in 2019 during his undergraduate studies, and continued with his BSc project in 2020. In September 2020 he started his integrated MSc+PhD as a part of the Center for High Entropy Alloy Catalysis, where he worked on mapping synthesis methods for high-entropy alloys, studying their formation mechanisms, and developing scattering-based characterisation methods for complex nanoparticles. He is now continuing this work as a postdoctoral researcher.
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. She finished her integrated MSc+PhD in the group in September 2026, and is now working as a postdoc to study the formation of various iridium-based oxide nanoparticles. She focusses especially on how the employed solvent influences particle size and 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. She is now working as a postdoc studying electrocatalytic processes operando using X-ray scattering techniques as her main focus.
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 was since enrolled in the integrated MSc+PhD program in February 2022. He now works as a postdoc 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.
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. In September 2023, she continued her research as a PhD student, and now works as a postdoc in the group. Emma’s project aims to provide improved knowledge about the formation and structure of iron and nickel-based amorphous oxides.
PhD students:
Rebecca Svart Silberg
rss(at)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.
Lisa Flora Pedersen
lfp(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0009-0005-9125-2581
Lisa first joined the group during her master’s studies, where she investigated modelling approaches for large in situ total scattering datasets related to the formation of NiCo layered double hydroxides. This work developed into her master’s thesis project. She completed her MSc in Nanoscience in June 2026 and joined the group as a PhD student in September 2026. Her current research focuses on controlling and optimizing strain in Pt-based intermetallic materials for electrocatalysis.
Marcus Sebastian Grych
msg(at)chem.ku.dk
ORCID: 0009-0003-8278-6181
Marcus first joined the group for an undergraduate project and continued with his BSc investigating synthesis-structure relations in non-noble high entropy oxides. In September 2026, he enrolled in the integrated MSc+PhD program focusing on characterizing the formation and transformation mechanisms of amorphous oxides.
Alumni from the group:
Frederik Lizak Johansen – PhD, Graduated 2025
Ulrik Friis-jensen – PhD, Graduated 2025
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
Line Jessen – MSc, Graduated 2026
Malthe August Knudsen – BSc, Graduated 2026
Michael Estes – BSc, Graduated 2026
Gustav Vargas Lundhus – BSc, Graduated 2026
Mark Jun Lin Pedersen – BSc, Graduated 2026
Søren Sams – MSc, Graduated 2026
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:
Danielle Getz, Fulbright Researcher in the academic year of 2023-2024. Danielle joined our group to study the synthesis and characterisation of high-entropy alloy nanoparticles. She is now doing her PhD in chemical engineering at Northwestern University.
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.
