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Dr. Lena Puntscher

Lena Puntscher has successfully defended her thesis "Metal-oxide surfaces as a support for model single atom catalysis". She may adorn herself with the PhD title (Dr.) now.

Lena Puntscher & Gareth Parkinson

© Moritz Eder

Lena Puntscher with her PhD advisor Gareth Parkinson

In her thesis Metal-oxide surfaces as a support for model single atom catalysis, Lena Puntscher has investigated metal atoms (Pt, Rh, Ni, Ir) on oxide surfaces and studied the stability of these surfaces under various conditions. Furthermore, she has investigated whether these atoms can be used as "single-atom catalysts".  Single-atom catalysis is a new development in catalysis technology, which does not only uses the (sometime precious) catalyst metal with optimum efficiency but also enables reactions where that are difficult for heterogeneous catalysis.

Lena Puntscher got awarded four prizes while working on her PhD thesis, the Franz Viehböck Award and three prizes for the best student presentation at an international conference (Cluster Meeting in Praha, AVS 67 online, IVC Sapporo). This is the record for our group. No wonder that she has been awarded the PhD degree with the best grade possible.