Paulina Majchrzak

Bio: Paulina Majchrzak earned her undergraduate degree in chemical physics at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. During her studies, she completed a year-long internship at the UK Research & Innovation’s ultrafast laser user facility, Artemis. She completed her doctorate in solid state physics at Aarhus University, Denmark. In her work, she travels to large-scale facilities around the world to investigate the electronic structures of quantum materials under non-equilibrium and operating conditions, in order to understand how their unique properties can be harnessed in modern electronic and optoelectronic devices. She also contributed to a construction and commissioning of a novel photoemission spectroscopy experimental station with a nanoscale beam spot at the ASTRID2 synchrotron in Aarhus. 

Postdoctoral research project: In-operando spectroscopic investigation of highly oxidised metal-oxide battery cathodes.  Current technologies for clean energy storage and conversion, such as rechargeable batteries and electrochemical catalysts, remain limited by the performance of transition metal-oxide components. Driving a battery at higher than conventional voltage provides an opportunity to substantially increase the amount of power it can store, by unlocking highly-oxidized oxygen and transition metal states. However, formation of such states has not been explored so far, preventing efficient material selection and optimization. As a Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellow, Paulina will develop a novel spectroscopic toolbox for studying electrochemical systems in operando, aiming to uncover the mechanism governing the electrochemical activity in rechargeable battery cathodes. Her project will be carried out under the guidance of Professors Zhi-Xun Shen and Harold Y. Hwang, and will combine materials synthesis, advanced x-ray characterization and theoretical calculations.

Research focus:  Energy Conversion & Storage - Batteries

Advisors:  Zhi-Xun Shen - Physics and Applied Physics  |  Harold Hwang - Photon Science at SLAC and Applied Physics