Dr. Wenbin Zhang, postdoc in the research group of Prof. Matthias Kling, has been awarded a very prestigious fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. With the Humboldt Research Fellowship, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation sponsors above-average qualified researchers from all over the world.

During the fellowship, Dr. Zhang will work on directly probing and controlling molecular adsorbate dynamics on nanoparticles. To achieve this goal, he intends to develop new instruments. These include modification of a Nano-Target Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy (NanoTRIMS) setup by introducing a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer (MS) on the electron side, and building a two-color laser setup for a novel 100 kHz, 2 µm laser system in the Kling lab.

Using the new instrumentation, Dr. Zhang’s research will concentrate on probing and controlling the effect of induced near-fields, such as plasmonic resonances in nanoparticles, on adsorbate dynamics. He will study the dissociation dynamics of organic molecules, the fundamental aspects of which are important in other scientific fields, for instance, in catalytic chemistry, and atmospheric photochemistry.