Dr Niklas von Wolff

Dr Niklas von Wolff

Chargé de Recherche, the French National Research Centre

Niklas von Wolff is currently Chargé de Recherche at the French National
Research Centre (CNRS) and working in the Laboratory of Molecular
Electrochemistry (LEM) at the University of Paris. After studies in Chemistry
and Biochemistry at the University of Zurich (BSc) he continued his studies in Chemistry at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris, obtaining his ENS Diploma and a MSc from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in 2013. He received a PhD from the University Paris Saclay in 2016 for his work at the French Nuclear and Alternative Energy Commission (CEA Saclay) on CO2 recycling. After an industrial Postdoc between AirLiquide and the University Paris Diderot, he joined the group of Prof. David Milstein at the Weizmann Institute of Science. After another short stint as Visiting Scientist at the Weizmann Institute, he joined his current lab in 2019.

In his work, he is exploring the interplay of catalysts and the use of electricity to trigger challenging chemical reactions under very mild conditions. This allows to fine-tune the energy input of a given reaction, which is necessary for a more energy efficient and sustainable chemical industry of the future. His projects are hence at the interface of electrochemical CO2-transformations, energy storage, as well as sustainable organic redox chemistry. He was awarded the 2nd René Dabard thesis award from ENSCR, Rennes, as well as the BASF thesis award from the French Chemical Society. He was one of ten yearly awardees of an excellence fellowship from the Israel Academy of Science. Recently he was awarded the “Emergence en Recherche” grant from the University of Paris.