EDUCATION
| 2006 | Ph.D | Mater. Sci & Eng., Technion ‒ Israel Institute of Technology, Israel |
| 2003 | M.Sc. | Mater. Sci & Eng., Technion ‒ Israel Institute of Technology, Israel |
| 2000 | B.Sc. | Mater. Sci & Eng., Technion ‒ Israel Institute of Technology, Israel |
| 2000 | B.A | Chemistry, Technion ‒ Israel Institute of Technology, Israel |
CURRENT POSITION
| Since 03/2020 | Full Professor | Mater. Sci & Eng., Technion ‒ Israel Institute of Technology, Israel |
PREVIOIS POSITIONS
| 2015-2020 | Associate Professor | Mater. Sci & Eng., Technion ‒ Israel Institute of Technology, Israel |
| 2009-2015 | Assistant Professor | Mater. Sci & Eng., Technion ‒ Israel Institute of Technology, Israel |
| 2007-2009 | Postdoctoral Fulbright
Fellow |
School of Eng. & Applied Sciences, Prof. Joanna Aizenberg, Harvard University, USA |
| 2007 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA |
AWARDS
| 2020 | Henri Gutwirth Prize for Promotion of Excellence in Research. Highest Technion award for applied research |
| 2019 | Selected to give a talk in the EU parliament STOA-ERC Event |
| 2018 | Reached the final stage of the Max Planck−Humboldt Research Award |
| 2016 | Norman Seiden Prize for Excellence in Research. Highest Technion research award |
| 2011-2017 | Technion Excellence in Teaching (consistently in the top 12.5% or 4%) |
| 2010 | Alon Fellowship for Outstanding Young Researchers. Highest Israeli award for new outstanding faculty members |
| 2009 | Horev Fellow of the Leaders in Science. Highest Technion award for new outstanding faculty members |
Polishchuk I, Bianco-Stein N, Lang A, Kurashvili M, Caspary Toroker M, Katsman A, Feldmann J and Pokroy B.* “Strong Band Gap Blueshift in Copper (I) Oxide Semiconductor via Bio-Inspired Route”. Advanced Functional Materials 2020; 30(13):1910405. ACCEPTED AS A VIP PAPER.
Seknazi E, Kozachkevich S, Polishchuk I, Bianco Stein N, Villanova J, Suuronen J-P, Dejoie C, Zaslansky P, Katsman A and Pokroy B.* “From spinodal decomposition to alternating layered structure within single crystals of biogenic Mg calcite”. Nature Communications 2019; 10:4559.
Unravels the mechanism of spinodal decomposition by which layers with alternating concentrations of nanoprecipitates form in the brittle star.
Polishchuk I, Aronhime Bracha A, Bloch L, Levy D, Kauffmann Y, Burghammer M, Giacobbe C, Hendler G, Sun C.Y, Giuffre A.J, Marcus M.A, Katsman A, Gilbert P and Pokroy B.* “Coherently Aligned Nanoparticles Within a Biogenic Single Crystal: a Biological Prestressing Strategy”. Science 2017; 358: 1294.
Describes our identification of a unique biostrategy for prestressing a brittle crystal and is the basis for this proposal.
Etinger-Geller Y, Katsman A, Pokroy B. Density of Nanometrically Thin Amorphous Films Varies by Thickness. Chemistry of Materials 2017; 29:4912. The paper demonstrates how nanometric thickness controls the short-range order of amorphous ceramic films.
Haimov B, Iakovlev A, Bloch, L, Mueller, M, Pokroy B.* “Kinetics of nano-scale self-assembly measured on liquid drops by macroscopic optical tensiometry: from mercury to water and fluorocarbons”. JACS 2016; 138:2585. SPOTLIGHTED IN JACS
Koifman-Khristosov M, Bloch L, Burghammer M, Kauffman Y, Katsman A, Pokroy B.* “Sponge-like nanoporous single crystals of gold”. Nature Communications 2015; 6:8841. HIGHLIGHTED IN NATURE MATERIALS.
Milestone demonstration of how one can use bio-inspired routes to form functional metal structures with catalytic activity.
Koifman-Khristosov M, Kabalah-Amitai L, Burghammer M, Katsman A, Pokroy B.* “Formation of Curved Micron-Sized Single Crystals”. ACS Nano 2014; 8:747.
This paper illustrates the power of the synchrotron sub-micron scanning diffractometry and our capabilities in the use of this methodology, which is highly relevant to the current proposal.
Brif A, Ankonina G, Drathen C, Pokroy B.* Bio-inspired Band Gap Engineering of Zinc Oxide by Intracrystalline Incorporation of Amino Acids. Advanced Materials 2014; 26:477.
Pechook S, Kornblum N, Pokroy B.* “Bio-Inspired Superoleophobic Fluorinated Wax Crystalline Surfaces”. Advanced Functional Materials 2013; 36:4572.
A new bio-inspired route for forming surfaces that are not wetted by oils. This led to a patent application and interest shown by many companies.
Kabalah-Amitai L, Mayzel B, Kauffmann Y, Fitch AN, Bloch L, Gilbert PUPA, Pokroy B.* “Vaterite Crystals Contain Two Interspersed Crystal Structures.” Science 2013; 340:454.
This frequently cited milestone paper answers a century-long crystallographic question on the structure of vaterite. It also demonstrates our capabilities with aberration-corrected HRTEM, relevant to the present proposal.
My group is extensively working in the fields of biomineralization and bioinspired materials.
- Biomineralization and Mechanical properties of biomineralized tissues
- Bioinspired crystal growth and Synthesis of semiconductors via wet chemistry
- Amorphous thin films and Nanometric metal films
- Self-assembled monolayers and Organic/Inorganic hybrid interfaces and materials
- X-ray diffraction and Synchrotron characterization techniques
- Wetting of surfaces and Antimicrobial surfaces