During the Bunsen Conference, Dr. Juliane Simmchen from Physical Chemistry was honored last week with the Nernst-Haber-Bodenstein-Prize for her excellent work on energy conversion for driving movements on the microscale.
"It is important to understand how energy conversion at the microscale affects the evolution of synthetic active matter. In relation to our work, one could say that the three hobbyhorses of Walther Nernst, Fritz Haber and Max Bodenstein, who gave the prize its name, are included because the movement is usually driven catalytically or photocatalytically, with both thermodynamic and kinetic influences becoming important. For me and my group, the award on behalf of these three famous physical chemists is of course an immense honor and a great motivation to continue to be innovative and to tackle the difficult problems," explains Dr. Simmchen, who heads a junior research group at the TU Dresden, with which she works in an interdisciplinary manner - from electrochemistry and material development for photochemistry to catalytic synthesis.