Prof. Dr. Frederik Tielens

Frederik Tielens (Brussels, 1974) graduated in Chemistry at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium (1996) and earned his PhD degree in Theoretical Chemistry with cum laude at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium (2000), in the group of Prof. P. Geerlings. His doctoral work on the study of adsorption and catalytic properties of zeolites was awarded the Solvay Prize and the second prize of the prestigious international DSM contest. After a post doc in collaboration with ExxonMobil Research he then moved to industry and worked for Altachem and ABSS. In November 2003 he reintegrated university. During that period he obtained a Marie Curie Post Doc grant at the Universitat Jaume I (Spain), and was postdoctoral researcher at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC, Paris, France) in collaboration with Yara, where he worked on the reactivity of metal and metal oxide catalysts. In September 2006 he was assigned contractual assistant professor at the UPMC. From 2007 - 2013 he was assistant professor in charge of theoretical chemistry at Surface Reactivity Laboratory (UPMC). In January 2013 he joined the Laboratory of Condensed Matter of Paris (UPMC).

Since September 2017 he is appointed professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and leads the group of materials modeling, and became Maître de Conferences "hors classe" of the Sorbonne University. He specializes in three families of materials: Silica, SAMs/noble metals, and biocalcifications.

Selected Publications

T. Debroise, T. Sedzik, J. Vekeman, Y. Su, C. Bonhomme, F. Tielens, Morphology of calcium oxalate polyhydrates: A quantum chemical and computational study, Cryst. Growth Des. 2020, 20, 3807–3815. doi:10.1021/acs.cgd.0c00119

D. Costa, C.-M. Pradier, F. Tielens, L. Savio, Adsorption and self-assembly of bio-organic molecules at model surfaces: A route towards increased complexity, Surf. Sci. Rep. 2015, 70, 449–553. doi:10.1016/j.surfrep.2015.10.002

F. Tielens, C. Gervais, J.-F. Lambert, F. Mauri, D. Costa, Ab initio study of the hydroxylated surface of amorphous silica: A representative model, Chem. Mater. 2008, 20, 3336–3344. doi:10.1021/cm8001173

F. Tielens, D. Costa, V. Humblot, C.-M. Pradier, Characterization of ω-functionalized undecanethiol mixed self-assembled monolayers on Au(111):  A combined polarization modulation infrared reflection−absorption spectroscopy/X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy/periodic density functional theory study, J. Phys. Chem. C 2008, 112, 182–190. doi:10.1021/jp074023c