🎓 [THESIS DEFENSE] – Sara Helis will defend her PhD thesis:
🔬 “Tailoring Functional Molecular Interfaces through Controlled Aryldiazonium Electrografting for Enhanced Reactivity”
📅 Friday 6 November 2026 at 09:15 – Faculté des Sciences d’Angers / Amphi L004 This thesis is labelled by EUR LUMOMAT
This thesis is supervised by Prof. Tony Breton – MOLTECH-Anjou – Université d’Angers
Examining Committee :
➖ Dr. Christophe Bucher – CNRS/ENS Lyon – Reviewer
➖ Dr. Jalal Ghilane – CNRS/Université Paris-Cité – Reviewer
➖ Dr. Sheena Louisia – CNRS/Sorbonne Université – Examiner
➖ Dr. Anne de Poulpiquet – Aix-Marseille Université – Examiner
➖ Dr. Jon Ustarroz – Université Libre de Bruxelles – Examiner
➖ Dr. Jean-Marc Noël – CNRS/Université Paris-Cité – Invited member
[📄 ABSTRACT]
The immobilization of functional molecules on electrodes provides a route toward molecular interfaces with tunable properties and reactivity. This thesis investigates aryldiazonium electrografting to understand and control film formation and its influence on the properties of immobilized species.
Using 4-nitrobenzenediazonium as a model system, the competitive contributions of aryl and diazenyl radicals to film formation were identified, with the latter leading to the incorporation of azo bridges. Their relative contributions could be tuned through the electrografting conditions, enabling control over film growth and composition.
These principles were then extended to a ruthenium bis-terpyridine complex. The resulting Ru(tpy)₂ multilayers remained electrochemically active over a broad range of thicknesses, while their electronic properties were influenced by immobilization. Remarkably, the initially coordinatively saturated Ru(tpy)₂ complex displayed catalytic activity toward water oxidation after electrografting. These results highlight the role of film formation and molecular confinement in determining the properties and reactivity of functional molecular interfaces.
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