Dr. rer. nat. Franziska Emmerling

The chemist at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) works on crystallization and aggregation phenomena by means of synchrotron radiation

Born in Bad Dürkheim in 1975 Franziska Emmerling finished her PhD thesis in inorganic solid state chemistry at the Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg in 2003. Her work dealt with the synthesis and structural investigation of intermetallic phases and ternary oxides of the elements arsenic, antimony and bismuth in unusual valence states.

After a postdoc fellowship Franziska Emmerling became head of the working group “X-ray Structure Analysis” at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin, where her work focused on the employment of synchrotron radiation for structural analytics. She was also co-responsible for the setup and successful application of the µSpot beamline at BESSY II.

Research Focus

The current work of Franziska Emmerling focuses on the investigation of crystallization and aggregation phenomena by means of synchrotron radiation. The structure of a material is crucial for its chemical and physical characteristics. Hence, the knowledge of the underlying structure represents a prerequisite to derive structure property relationships which are essential for the development of new materials. Apart from the final state of a material, it is of great importance in this context to know details about its assembly and possible intermediate stages.

These processes can be examined in time-resolved experiments applying synchrotron X-rays, partly supplemented with further analytic methods as Raman scattering or XANES. In order to avoid disturbing influences of the sample holder some of these investigations were carried out using a levitated droplet as presented in the figure for the crystallization of calcium carbonate.

In cooperation with the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT) substantial steps during the synthesis of catalyst materials based on complex molybdates could be elucidated applying this setup.

Contact: Dr. Franziska Emmerling, e-mail, tel. : +49-(0)30-8104-1133, www.bam.de