Petra Rudolf (born 1957) is a German and Italian solid state physicist. As of 2003, Rudolf has been a professor at the Materials Science Centre (now Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials),

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

, Netherlands.

Biography

Born in Munich, Rudolf moved to Italy to complete high school and to receive her MSc degree (magna cum laude) in physics at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

, Italy. Following, she worked at the National Surface Science Laboratory in Trieste for five years, interrupted two times to work on the newly discovered

fullerene A fullerene is an allotropes of carbon, allotrope of carbon whose molecules consist of carbon atoms connected by single and double bonds so as to form a closed or partially closed mesh, with fused rings of five to six atoms. The molecules may ...

s at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

, USA. In 1995, she received her PhD (magna cum laude) in physics under the supervision of Roland Caudano at Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix, Namur, Belgium. After several research positions in Namur, she became professor in Experimental Solid State Physics at the

in 2003. In addition to her research, Rudolf also has been active in spreading knowledge on how unconscious biases impact careers in science, and how to mitigate that influence through advocating positive action programs. Efforts by Rudolf have been pivotal in supporting the Rosalind Franklin Fellowship program at

, which was installed by then Dean Douwe Wiersma in 2002 and recognized by the 2018 Diversity Award from The Netherlands Physics Association. Rudolf has been elected to offices in professional organizations. She was President of the Belgian Physical Society from 2000 to 2001 and President of the

European Physical Society The European Physical Society (EPS) is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe through methods such as physics outreach, supporting physicists to engage in the design and implementation of European s ...

from 2019 to 2020. She is currently the chair of the EPS Equal Opportunities Committee.

Research

Petra Rudolf's research focuses on

surface physics Surface science is the study of physical and chemical phenomena that occur at the interface of two phases, including solid–liquid interfaces, solid–gas interfaces, solid–vacuum interfaces, and liquid–gas interfaces. It includes the fiel ...

of organic thin films,

molecular motor Molecular motors are natural (biological) or artificial molecular machines that are the essential agents of movement in living organisms. In general terms, a motor is a device that consumes energy in one form and converts it into motion or mech ...

nanocomposite Nanocomposite is a multiphase solid material where one of the phases has one, two or three dimensions of less than 100 nanometers (nm) or structures having nano-scale repeat distances between the different phases that make up the material. In the ...

s, as well as

2D materials In materials science, the term single-layer materials or 2D materials refers to crystalline solids consisting of a single layer of atoms. These materials are promising for some applications but remain the focus of research. Single-layer materials ...

, to gain a better understanding of the physical phenomena that they display and for potential technological innovations. Rudolf's expertise has been on the application of various surface sensitive spectroscopic measurement techniques (x-ray and ultraviolet

photoemission spectroscopy Photoemission spectroscopy (PES), also known as photoelectron spectroscopy, refers to energy measurement of electrons emitted from solids, gases or liquids by the photoelectric effect, in order to determine the binding energies of electrons in ...

electron energy loss spectroscopy Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) is a form of electron microscopy in which a material is exposed to a beam of electrons with a known, narrow range of kinetic energies. Some of the electrons will undergo inelastic scattering, which mea ...

angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) is an experimental technique used in condensed matter physics to probe the allowed energies and momenta of the electrons in a material, usually a crystalline solid. It is based on the photoel ...

Auger electron spectroscopy A Hanford scientist uses an Auger electron spectrometer to determine the elemental composition of surfaces. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES; pronounced in French) is a common analytical technique used specifically in the study of surfaces and, ...

inverse photoemission spectroscopy Inverse photoemission spectroscopy (IPES) is a surface science technique used to study the unoccupied electronic structure of surfaces, thin films, and adsorbates. A well-collimated beam of electrons of a well defined energy (< 20 eV) is direc ...

X-ray absorption spectroscopy X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a set of advanced techniques used for probing the local environment of matter at atomic level and its electronic structure. The experiments require access to synchrotron radiation facilities for their int ...

, as well as low energy- and time-resolved electron diffraction) to study the various materials systems. While these techniques have been used by Rudolf and her group to study a wide variety of materials, Rudolf has always maintained a special interest in

graphene Graphene () is a carbon allotrope consisting of a Single-layer materials, single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, honeycomb planar nanostructure. The name "graphene" is derived from "graphite" and the suffix -ene, indicating ...

-based materials and, more recently, also in 2D materials . Graphene-based materials have great potential in revolutionizing today's electronics industry and making it more sustainable, and Rudolf's lab has contributed successfully to finding better ways to produce 2D materials. More recently, Rudolf has also been devoted to developing pillared graphene materials for

spintronics Spintronics (a portmanteau meaning spin transport electronics), also known as spin electronics, is the study of the intrinsic spin of the electron and its associated magnetic moment, in addition to its fundamental electronic charge, in solid-st ...

and hydrogen storage applications. Her interests span much further than carbon-based materials however, with recent successes with germanane-based and other materials which show promising devices and

catalysis Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

applications. As of 2019, Rudolf's work on synthetic

molecular switch A molecular switch is a molecule that can be switched between two or more stable or Metastability, metastable states with the use of any external (exogenous) or internal (endogenous) stimuli, such as changes in pH, light, temperature, an electri ...

es and

molecular machine Molecular machines are a class of molecules typically described as an assembly of a discrete number of molecular components intended to produce mechanical movements in response to specific stimuli, mimicking macromolecular devices such as switch ...

s for the production of functional surfaces, in collaboration with colleagues, such as

Ben Feringa Bernard Lucas "Ben" Feringa (; born 18 May 1951) is a Dutch synthetic organic chemist, specializing in molecular nanotechnology and homogeneous catalysis. He is the Jacobus van 't Hoff Distinguished Professor of Molecular Sciences, at the ...

, is also ongoing.

Awards and honours

Petra Rudolf is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, awarded "for explorations of

nanotube A nanotube is a nanoscale cylindrical structure with a hollow core, typically composed of carbon atoms, though other materials can also form nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are the most well-known and widely studied type, consisting of rolled- ...

graphite Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...

, and

, as well as light-driven synthetic

s". She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and an honorary member of the Italian and the Dutch Physical Society. In 2007, Rudolf and her research group was one of the winners of the EU

Descartes Prize The Descartes Prize was an annual award in science given by the European Union, named in honour of the French mathematician and philosopher, René Descartes. The prizes recognized Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievements Resulting f ...

for their work on molecular machines, as part of the SynNanoMotor consortium, a collaborative partnership of researchers from countries including France, Italy and Scotland. This work was pivotal in building early synthetic nanomachines. In 2013, Rudolf received the royal decoration and was appointed Officer of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

. In 2016 Rudolf was elected Member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech). She was elected to the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

in 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudolf, Petra Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Fellows of the Institute of Physics Members of Academia Europaea Academic staff of the University of Groningen Scientists from Munich 1957 births German women physicists Université de Namur alumni 20th-century German physicists Sapienza University of Rome alumni German expatriates in the United States German expatriates in Italy Scientists at Bell Labs Living people 20th-century German women scientists 21st-century German women scientists Presidents of the European Physical Society Fellows of the American Physical Society