Joern Bannies is currently a Postdoc in the group of Kwabena Bediako in the chemistry department. He received his PhD from the University of British Columbia. In his doctoral research, Joern studied how distortions of the atomic arrangement of square lattice materials can be used to engineer their electronic properties on large energy scales. He developed a framework that explains the evolution of the electronic structure upon breaking two distinct symmetries of the square lattice, as realized in a variety of real materials. Following predictions within this framework, he used angle- resolved photoemission spectroscopy to demonstrate the reversible opening of a large energy gap in the electronic structure of the semimetal LaSb x Te 2-x .
As a Kavli ENSI fellow, Joern aims to address a challenge in the synthesis of chiral molecules: current methods often lack on-demand control over chirality during the reaction and rely on chiral reagents or catalysts that are cumbersome to synthesize. To overcome this obstacle, he will exploit chirality-induced spin selectivity effects that result in the preferred interaction of chiral molecules with electrons of a certain spin polarization. Instead of relying on crystallographic chirality that can only be controlled ex situ, he plans to switch the chirality of the magnetic structures of solid catalysts via external stimuli such as electric fields. Through such in situ switching of catalyst chirality, he hopes to not only control adsorption of chiral molecules but also their reactions.