Contact

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Cristina
Africh

IOM Headquarters
Research staff
Head of laboratory

Cristina Africh is senior scientist at CNR-IOM headquarters. Co-head of the Surface sTructure and Reactivity at the Atomic Scale lab, jointly run by CNR-IOM and the University of Trieste (Prof. Giovani Comelli co-head from the UniTS side) and hosting two scanning tunneling microscopy apparatuses. Her research interests are mainly focused on the study of the structural, electronic and chemical properties of nanostructured surfaces.

In recent years she investigated in particular the growth mechanism, atomic structure and reactivity of pristine and doped graphene layers supported on single- and polycrystalline metal substrates. She has specific competences in the real time investigation of surface processes with atomic resolution and contributed to the development of a fast module (patented), which allows for acquisition of movies at video-rate with commercial STM instruments also in reactive environment and at high temperature.

In 2015-2021, Cristina Africh served as project manager for the NFFA-Europe (Nanoscience Foundaries and Fine Analysis – Europe), a H2020 project with 19 beneficiaries providing access to external users in 13 European Institutions.

From Mar. 2021, she is infrastructure manager and member of the executive and strategic committee of NFFA-Europe Pilot, a new H2020 project (26 beneficiaries and several third parties) that aims at developing the NFFA consortium into a single, integrated and interoperable distributed research infrastructure for nanoscience (IDRIN) with long-term perspectives in the EU RI landscape.

 

Publications

Carbon, 171:704-710, 2021 doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2020.09.056

“Inside out” growth method for high-quality nitrogen-doped graphene

Fiori S., Perilli D., Panighel M., Cepek C., Ugolotti A., Sala A., Liu H., Comelli G., Di Valentin C., Africh C.
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 11-20:8887-8892, 2020 doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c02447

Mechanism of CO Intercalation through the Graphene/Ni(111) Interface and Effect of Doping

Perilli D., Fiori S., Panighel M., Liu H., Cepek C., Peressi M., Comelli G., Africh C., Di Valentin C.
Science, 359-6381:1243-1246, 2018 doi:10.1126/science.aan8782

Real-time imaging of adatom-promoted graphene growth on nickel

Patera L.L., Bianchini F., Africh C., Dri C., Soldano G., Mariscal M.M., Peressi M., Comelli G.
Nano Letters, 15-1:56-62, 2015 doi:10.1021/nl5026985

Temperature-driven changes of the graphene edge structure on Ni(111): Substrate vs hydrogen passivation

Patera L.L., Bianchini F., Troiano G., Dri C., Cepek C., Peressi M., Africh C., Comelli G.
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 5-3:467-473, 2014 doi:10.1021/jz402609d

Atomic scale identification of coexisting graphene structures on Ni(111)

Bianchini F., Patera L.L., Peressi M., Africh C., Comelli G.
ACS Nano, 7-9:7901-7912, 2013 doi:10.1021/nn402927q

In situ observations of the atomistic mechanisms of Ni catalyzed low temperature graphene growth

Patera L.L., Africh C., Weatherup R.S., Blume R., Bhardwaj S., Castellarin-Cudia C., Knop-Gericke A., Schloegl R., Comelli G., Hofmann S., Cepek C.
Nature Chemistry, 4-3:215-220, 2012 doi:10.1038/nchem.1242

Controlling on-surface polymerization by hierarchical and substrate-directed growth

Lafferentz L., Eberhardt V., Dri C., Africh C., Comelli G., Esch F., Hecht S., Grill L.
Science, 309-5735:752-755, 2005 doi:10.1126/science.1111568

Chemistry: Electron localization determines defect formation on ceria substrates

Esch F., Fabris S., Zhou L., Montini T., Africh C., Fornasiero P., Comelli G., Rosei R.