Georg Held

Georg's research interests focus on fundamental aspects of heterogeneous catalysis and the development of methods for accurate characterization of adsorbed molecules. One key activity of the research group is the precise determination of surface geometries by diffraction techniques (LEED, SXRD).

Another, increasingly important field of research involves studies of the chemical nature of model catalysts and adsorbed molecules by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) Spectroscopy. The experiments investigate the adsorption and reactions of small bio-relevant molecules (e.g. amino acids) and solvents, like water, on metal and oxide surfaces and the geometries and electronic structures of surfaces alloys and thin oxide films.

Prof Held has been awarded major grants from EPSRC and the European Commission (network grants "MONET" and "SMALL" funded by the Marie Curie programme) and regular beamtime awards at UK, European and US synchrotron facilities.

Georg is also involved in the development and maintence of the CLEED program package for LEED-IV studies.

• Etman, H.A., Held, G., Jenkins, S.J. and Bennett, R. A. (2013) Structure and stress of Re(11%21); chiral terraces at a racemic surface. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 15 (48). pp. 20823-20829. ISSN 1463-9076 doi: 10.1039/c3cp53165a

• Shavorskiy, A., Eralp, T., Schulte, K., Bluhm, H. and Held, G. (2013) Surface chemistry of glycine on Pt{111} in different aqueous environments. Surface Science, 607. pp. 10-19. ISSN 0039-6028 doi: 10.1016/j.susc.2012.08.015

• Bennett, R. A., Mulley, J. S., Etman, H. A., Sparkes, A., Eralp, T., Held, G., Cavill, S. A. and Dhesi, S. S. (2012) Chromium nanostructures formed by dewetting of heteroepitaxial films on W(100). Physical Review B, 86 (4). 045454. ISSN 1098-0121 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.86.045454

• Risterucci, P., Held, G., Bendounan, A., Silly, M. G., Chauvet, C., Pierucci, D., Beaulieu, N. and Sirotti, F. (2012) Preventing carbon contamination of optical devices for X-rays: the effect of oxygen on photon-induced dissociation of CO on platinum. Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, 19 (4). pp. 570-573. ISSN 0909-0495 doi: 10.1107/S090904951202050X

• Eralp, T., Levins, A., Shavorskiy, A., Jenkins, S. J. and Held, G. (2012) The importance of attractive three-point interaction in enantioselective surface chemistry: stereospecific adsorption of serine on the intrinsically chiral Cu{531} surface. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134 (23). pp. 9615-9621. ISSN 0002-7863 doi: 10.1021/ja210499m

• Karakatsani, S., Ge, Q., Gladys, M. J., Held, G. and King, D. A. (2012) Coverage-dependent molecular tilt of carbon monoxide chemisorbed on Pt{110}: A combined LEED and DFT structural analysis. Surface Science, 606 (3-4). pp. 383-393. ISSN 0039-6028 doi: 10.1016/j.susc.2011.10.025

• Zheleva, Z. V., Eralp, T. and Held, G. (2011) Complete Experimental Structure Determination of the p(3x2)pg Phase of Glycine on Cu{110}. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 116 (1). pp. 618-625. ISSN 1089-5639 doi: 10.1021/jp2057282

• Avidor, N., Hedgeland, H., Held, G., Jardine, A. P., Allison, W., Ellis, J., Kravchuk, T. and Alexandrowicz, G. (2011) Highly proton-ordered water structures on oxygen precovered Ru{0001}. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 115 (25). pp. 7205-7209. ISSN 1089-5639 doi: 10.1021/jp200221b

• Etman, H. A., Zheleva, Z. V., Held, G. and Bennett, R. A. (2011) Epitaxial growth of ultrathin palladium films on Re{0001}. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 115 (10). pp. 4191-4199. ISSN 1932-7447 doi: 10.1021/jp112136f

• Eralp, T., Shavorskiy, A. and Held, G. (2011) The adsorption geometry and chemical state of lysine on Cu{110}. Surface Science, 605 (3-4). pp. 468-472. ISSN 0039-6028 doi: 10.1016/j.susc.2010.12.001

• Shavorskiy, A., Aksoy, F., Grass, M. E., Liu, Z., Bluhm, H. and Held, G. (2011) A step toward the wet surface chemistry of glycine and alanine on Cu{110}: destabilization and decomposition in the presence of near-ambient water vapor. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 133 (17). pp. 6659-6667. ISSN 0002-7863 doi: 10.1021/ja110910y

• Eralp, T., Cornish, A., Shavorskiy, A. and Held, G. (2011) The study of chiral adsorption systems using synchrotron- based structural and spectroscopic techniques: stereospecific adsorption of serine on Au-modified chiral Cu{531} surfaces. Topics in Catalysis, 54 (19-20). pp. 1414-1428. ISSN 1022-5528 doi: 10.1007/s11244-011-9757-z

• Eralp, T., Shavorskiy, A., Zheleva, Z. V., Held, G. F. K., Kalashnyk, N., Ning, Y. and Linderoth, T. R. (2010) Global and local expression of chirality in serine on the Cu{110} surface. Langmuir, 26 (24). pp. 18841-18851. ISSN 0743-7463 doi: 10.1021/la1036772

• Zheleva, Z.V., Dhanak, V.R. and Held, G. (2010) Experimental structure determination of the chemisorbed overlayers of chlorine and iodine on Au{111}. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 12 (36). pp. 10754-10758. ISSN 1463-9076 doi: 10.1039/c003461d

• Eralp, T., Shavorskiy, A., Zheleva, Z., Dhanak, V.R. and Held, G. (2010) Hydrogen bond-induced pair formation of glycine on the chiral Cu{531} surface. Langmuir, 26 (13). pp. 10918-10923. ISSN 1520-5827 doi: 10.1021/la1012796

• Hamley, I. W., Castelletto, V., Moulton, C., Rodriguez-Perez, J., Squires, A., Eralp, T., Held, G., Hicks, M. and Rodger, A. (2010) Alignment of a model amyloid peptide fragment in bulk and at a solid surface. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 114 (24). pp. 8244-8254. ISSN 1520-6106 doi: 10.1021/jp101374e

• Held, G. (2010) Low-energy electron diffraction crystallography of surfaces and interfaces. Bunsen-Magazin 12 (12). pp. 124-131.

• Cornish, A., Eralp, T., Shavorskiy, A., Bennett, R. A., Held, G. F. K., Cavill, S.A., Potenza, A., Marchetto, H. and Dhesi, S.S. (2010) Oxidation of polycrystalline Ni studied by spectromicroscopy: Phase separation in the early stages of crystallite growth. Physical Review B, 81 (8). 085403. ISSN 1098-0121 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.81.085403

Georg Held received a Ph.D. in physics from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, in 1994. He was a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Cambridge, UK (1994–1995) and staff scientist at the Universities of Würzburg and Erlangen, Germany (1995–2001). From 2001 to 2006 he was a lecturer in Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, UK. Afterwards, he has been a reader in Surface Science at the University of Reading, UK and, since 2012, Georg is also part-seconded to Diamond Light Source to lead the VERSOX (VERsatile SOft X-ray) project. His research concentrates on studying structures and reactivities of bio-related surfaces.