Thesis Director: Prof. N. Marzari,
\r\nMaterials Science and Engineering doctoral program
\r\nThesis Nr. 11813
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\r\nTo take part in the public defense, please contact directly the speaker
Recent reports claim that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is spontaneously generated – without external energy input or catalyst – at the air–water interface of microdroplets1, bubbles2, and soap films3. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, including: (i) ultrahigh instantaneous electric fields at the air–water interface driving HO− à HO• + e− radicals from hydroxide ions; (ii) water’s comproportionation into H2O•+ and H2O•−; and (iii) partial dehydration of interfacial H+ and HO− followed by radical formation. In contrast, our laboratory experiments reveal that H2O2 formation is due to the reduction of dissolved O2 at water– solid interfaces, i.e., with no role for the air–water interface beyond O2 mass transport4-6. Based on these findings, I will present four diagnostic criteria against which any existing or future mechanistic proposal should be assessed. Our approach reconciles the claims of spontaneous H2O2 formation within established physical chemistry and extends naturally to other claims of anomalous microdroplet reactivity.
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\r\nReferences:
\r\n(1) Mehrgardi, M. A.; Mofidfar, M.; Zare, R. N. Sprayed Water Microdroplets Are Able to Generate Hydrogen Peroxide Spontaneously. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2022, 144 (17), 7606-7609. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c02890.
\r\n(2) Nami-Ana, S. F.; Mehrgardi, M. A.; Mofidfar, M.; Zare, R. N. Sustained Regeneration of Hydrogen Peroxide at the Water-Gas Interface of Electrogenerated Microbubbles on an Electrode Surface. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2024, 146 (46), 31945-31949. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c11422 From NLM PubMed-not-MEDLINE.
\r\n(3) Eldeeb, A. M.; Berbille, A.; Dick, J. E. No Microdroplets? No Problem. Soap Films Amplify the Interface and Produce Hydrogen Peroxide. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025, 147 (37), 33325-33329. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c05887.
\r\n(4) Eatoo, M. A.; Mishra, H. Busting the myth of spontaneous formation of H2O2 at the air-water interface: contributions of the liquid-solid interface and dissolved oxygen exposed. Chemical Science 2024, 15 (9), 3093-3103. DOI: 10.1039/d3sc06534k From NLM PubMed-not-MEDLINE.
\r\n(5) Eatoo, M. A.; Wehbe, N.; Kharbatia, N.; Guo, X.; Mishra, H. Why do some metal ions spontaneously form nanoparticles in water microdroplets? Disentangling the contributions of the air-water interface and bulk redox chemistry. Chemical Science 2025, 16 (3), 1115-1125. DOI: 10.1039/d4sc03217a From NLM PubMed-not-MEDLINE.
\r\n(6) Eatoo, M. A.; Mishra, H. Disentangling the Roles of Dissolved Oxygen, Common Salts, and pH on Spontaneous Hydrogen Peroxide Production in Water: No O2, No H2O2. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025, 147 (39), 35392-35400. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c09028.
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\r\nPapers:
\r\n- Busting the myth of spontaneous formation of H2O2 at the air–water interface: contributions of the liquid–solid interface and dissolved oxygen exposed
\r\n- Disentangling the Roles of Dissolved Oxygen, Common Salts, and pH on Spontaneous Hydrogen Peroxide Production in Water: No O2, No H2O2
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\r\nBio: Himanshu Mishra is a scientist-entrepreneur from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. His team has significantly contributed to resolving scientific debates surrounding the spontaneous H2O2 formation in water microdroplets, the electrification at water-hydrophobe interfaces, and liquid–solid adhesion forces. Mishra’s team has also pioneered Carbosoil™ technology to transform desert soils for sustainable greening, food production, and carbon sequestration. His start-up Terraxy is now scaling up Carbosoil™ production to advance sustainability projects in the Middle East and beyond. Mishra’s efforts have been featured by the World Economic Forum, Geneva Inventions, and CNN (LINK).
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Atomically precise carbon nanostructures offer a new route to quantum systems built from the bottom up. By combining molecular design, on-surface synthesis and scanning probe microscopy, we can control atomic structure, electronic states and magnetic interactions within the same platform.
\r\nIn this talk, I will follow the path from bottom-up synthesized graphene nanoribbons [1,2] to open-shell nanographenes [3] and designer quantum spin systems [4]. I will discuss how atomic structure can determine electronic topology and how molecular spins can be coupled into well-defined quantum chains. Recent examples include Haldane chains [4], alternating-exchange spin chains [5] and antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains [6], where collective and fractional excitations can be probed directly at the atomic scale.
\r\nMore broadly, this work illustrates a materials-science strategy in which structure, functionality and interactions are programmed at the level of molecular building blocks. Rather than optimizing properties in an existing material, the aim is to design the material and its quantum behavior together. Atomically precise carbon nanostructures therefore provide a model platform for exploring how synthesis, structure and emergent functionality can be linked in a predictive way, with implications for the future design of low-dimensional electronic, magnetic and quantum materials.\r\n
Thesis Director: Prof. P. Scarlino,
\r\nPhysics doctoral program
\r\nThesis Nr. 11801
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\r\nTo take part in the public defense, please contact directly the speaker
Biological systems have already paved several routes for bioinspired materials, e.g., for structural colours, wetting, adhesion, and mechanical properties. They have largely involved equilibrium or kinetically trapped properties. By contrast, biological systems allowing multifunctional properties are characteristically dissipatively and dynamically adaptive and incorporate homeostatic feedback mechanisms to regulate the dynamic states. They also typically use signal transduction to mediate the signal from the sensory elements to the responsive sites, unlike the classic man-made stimuli responsive materials. These concept suggest avenues towards more complex life-like functions in soft matter. Herein, optically driven hydrogel systems are presented to drive homeostatically controlled thermal oscillations and to mediate signal transduction via thermal intermediate signalling (1). On the other hand, biological magnetoreception in elasmobranch organisms involves electromagnetic induction (EMI) and suggests avenues for bioinspired electrical signal transductions. We show magnetic profile recognition of translocated magnetically encoded soft matter objects using electrical intermediate signaling by EMI and decoding the magnetic information with machine learning (2). Combination of high stiffness and promoted dynamics for self-healing has turned challenging to combine. Self-healing hydrogels, still combining high tensile stiffness close to that of skin were shown by using polymers upon nanoconfinement in 2D-nanosheet layered confinements (3). Finally, we show trainable actuations in bilayer gel actuators (4). Ever more complex responses can be created, such as mimicking the Pavlovian classical conditioning (5), all paving ways for growingly life-like functions for soft robotics and interfacing with biology.
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\r\n1. H. Zhang, H. Zeng, A. Eklund, H. Guo, A. Priimagi, O. Ikkala, Feedback-controlled hydrogels with homeostatic oscillations and dissipative signal transduction, Nat. Nano, 17, 1303 (2022).
\r\n2. Z. Miao, X. Hu, K. Liu, S. Hu, G. Yan, H. Tan, O. Ikkala, Z. P. Lv, B. Peng, Bioinspired sensory transduction for magnetic profile recognition and encryption, Adv. Mat. 38 e15994 (2026).
\r\n3. C. Liang, V. Dudko, O. Khoruzhenko, X. Hong, Z.-P. Lv, J. Breu, O. Ikkala, H. Zhang, Stiff and self-healing hydrogels by polymer entanglements in co-planar nanoconfinement, Nat. Mater. 24, 599 (2025).
\r\n4. S. Hu, Y. Fang, C. Liang, M. Turunen, O. Ikkala, H. Zhang, Thermally trainable dual network hydrogels, Nat. Commun., 14, 3717 (2023).
\r\n5. H. Zhang, H. Zeng, A. Priimagi, O. Ikkala, Programmable responsive hydrogels with classical conditioning algorithm, Nat. Commun., 10, 3267 (2019).
Poster Exhibition of Materials Science and Engineering Graduate Students, featuring their 2025–2026 Master’s Projects, in the MXF Entrance (MXF-194.0) from October 1st to 21st, 2026.
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