Patrick Giesbrecht is awarded a prestigious Canadian Postdoc Fellowship
Dr. Patrick Giesbrecht has been granted a fellowship through the highly competitive Canada Postdoctoral Research Award program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada to carry out research within the Interface Science Department at the Fritz Haber Institute.
Canadian scientist Dr. Patrick Giesbrecht will be working in Dr. Juan Navarro’s “Model Interfaces” research group in the Interface Science Department, headed by Prof. Dr. Beatriz Roldán Cuenya. Here, he will investigate electrocatalyst reactivity and stability trends towards electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction. To this end, he will combine ultra-high vacuum preparation and characterization methods with electrochemical cell designs to develop and analyze single crystal surfaces with atomic precision. Through a two-year fellowship within the Canada Postdoctoral Research award program NSERC, his new project will expand upon these efforts: Dr. Giesbrecht will explore the influence of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) – porous structures with very intriguing chemical properties – on the microenvironment at single crystal surfaces. The fellowship step is a milestone for the young researcher, as it gives him the opportunity to continue his research endeavours at the Fritz Haber Institute and to develop his academic scientific career.
Electrocatalysis is a promising approach in the energy transition, as it enables electricity from renewable sources to be processed chemically. Optimizing electrocatalysts is therefore a very active field of research, and the study of the interfaces at which the electrocatalytic reactions take place is an important approach to a deeper understanding of the catalyst function. Interfaces, in which metals and organic substances or metals and polymers are mixed, underlie the operation of numerous electrochemical energy conversion frameworks. Their different combinations result in a myriad of interfaces in actual device designs that can enhance or limit their operation. COFs can be used to custom-tailor these interfaces: Acting like scaffolds, the porous architectures allow precise definition of the organic layer, forming periodic arrays with flexibility over the functionality and framework geometry.
The new project of Dr. Giesbrecht will investigate COF development on single crystal electrode surfaces and how the COF design influences electrode operation during electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction. The resulting metal-COF and electrode-electrolyte interfaces and how they evolve under electrocatalytic conditions will be systematically probed through a combination of the ex situ and in situ scanning probe and spectro-microscopic methods developed within the department and at synchrotron facilities. Thus, this project aims to provide fundamental insights towards the underlying mechanism behind electrocatalyst operation and will serve to guide the next-generation catalyst designs.
About the NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship
Launched in 2025 as a harmonized program of the former Banting and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowships, the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award is a highly endowed federal Canadian fellowship that supports outstanding early-career researchers at a critical stage in their academic careers. The program is open to both Canadian citizens and international researchers, and is intended to help postdoctoral researchers transition to the next phase of their careers by enabling them to gain additional research experience either in Canada or abroad. The fellowship amounts to $70,000 CAD per year and is typically awarded for a period of 2 years.
We are delighted that Dr. Giesbrecht was able to succeed in the competitive race for this prestigious fellowship. We warmly congratulate him on this great step on his career and wish him all the best for his research work in the Interface Science Department at the FHI.
