The PhD defence and trial lecture will be streamed. The chair of the defence will moderate the disputation.
Ex auditorio questions: the chair of the defence will invite the audience physically present in the auditorium to ask ex auditorio questions.
→ Live streaming of trial lecture and disputation (link will be available)
→ Request for thesis copy (available until the disputation starts)
Trial lecture
Time and place: August 27, 2025; 10:15 AM, - Lille Fysiske auditorium (V232) - Fysikkbygningen
Title: "Nanoparticles for cancer treatment."
Use of computer simulations to understand plasmonic nanoparticles that can boost photocatalysts
Photocatalysis is a field where energy from light is used to enhance or enable chemical reactions. Chemical reactions are important in many parts of society, for example when making medicines or green energy sources. The first photocatalysts were made of semiconductors, but so far these materials are not good enough to be industrially realizable. This doctorial work explores using metal nanoparticles in order to improve traditional semiconductor photocatalysts or act as photocatalysts themselves. The metal nanoparticles can enhance photocatalysis due to excitations of something called surface plasmons. A surface plasmon mode is excited in the nanoparticles if the light hitting it has the correct energy for that specific nanoparticle.
In this work, we have used computer simulations to study these nanoparticle-light interactions in scalable systems. These are systems that are not simple and ideal but represent realistic systems that could be scaled up to industry sizes. These simulations were combined with transmission electron microscope measurements and a theoretical foundation. The combination enabled us to identify properties of surface plasmon modes in complex systems. We also investigated the surface plasmons’ dependencies on material properties, geometry, size, environment and interaction. These insights bring these systems a step closer to industrial realization.
Adjudication Committee
- Professor Christos Tserkezis, Center for Polariton-driven Light-Matter Interactions (POLIMA) / Mads Clausen Institute (MCI), University of Southern Denmark ct@mci.sdu.dk
- Associate professor Jelena Popovic-Neuber, Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering, University of Stavanger, Norway jelena.popovic-neuber@uis.no
- Professor Joakim Bergli, Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway joakim.bergli@fys.uio.no
Supervisors
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Professor Øystein Prytz, Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway
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Professor Ole Martin Løvvik, SINTEF Materials Physics and Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway
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Professor Lasse Vines, Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway
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Dr. Athanasios Chatzitakis, Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Department of Chemistry
Chair of defence
Professor Andreas Görgen, Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway
Contact information to Department: Line Trosterud Resvold