Jan Balajka

Google Scholar Profile
ORCID (0000-0001-7101-1055)

Short CV List of Publications

• Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien)
  Institute of Applied Physics
  Wiedner Hauptstrasse 8-10/134, 1040 Wien, Austria
• Phone: +43-1-58801-13477 (lab -13456, -13482, -13486)

• email: jan.balajka@tuwien.ac.at

• 2020 - Assistant Professor (University Assistant), TU Wien, Austria
  Habilitation in progress
• 2019-2020 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. (Advisor: Melissa A. Hines)
• 2013-2018 Ph.D. in Physics, TU Wien, Austria (Advisor: Ulrike Diebold)

• 2019 Loschmidt Prize of Physical Chemistry Society, Austria
• 2013 Dean's Award, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic
• 2012 Erasmus mobility grant, Institut Néel & Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France

Experimental surface science

• Oxide, hydroxide, and mineral surfaces at the atomic level
• Scanning probe microscopy (AFM/STM) in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV)
• Solid-liquid interfaces
• Heterogeneous ice nucleation
• Carbon capture and CO₂ mineralization

• Atomically resolved imaging of oxide and mineral surfaces
• Structure and properties of insulator surfaces at the atomic scale
• Interaction of oxide and mineral surfaces with water
• Ice nucleation on mineral surfaces

Our research explores materials properties across a wide range of environments, from fundamental studies under ultrahigh vacuum to complex systems involving liquids and high-pressure gases. By combining scanning probe microscopy (STM/AFM) with chemically sensitive spectroscopic techniques (such as XPS and LEIS), we investigate structures with atomic precision. A custom-built setup enables the controlled dosing of ultrapure liquid water, allowing us to study material–water interactions under precisely defined conditions. We aim to deepen our understanding of natural processes and enhance the performance of materials in technological applications.

• Stoichiometric reconstruction of the Al₂O₃(0001) surface Science 385 (2024), 6714, 1241-1244
• Surface reconstructions govern ice nucleation on silver iodide Science Advances 11, 44 (2025), eaea2378
• High-affinity adsorption leads to molecularly ordered interfaces on TiO₂ in air and solution Science 361 (2018), 6404, 786-789
• Apparatus for dosing liquid water in ultrahigh vacuum Review of Scientific Instruments 89, 083906 (2018)
• Surface Structure of TiO₂ Rutile (011) Exposed to Liquid Water J. Phys. Chem. C 2017, 121, 47, 26424–26431
• Atomic structure of oxide surfaces in aqueous environment (review chapter) Encyclopedia of Solid-Liquid Interfaces (First Edition), 200-209, Elsevier, 2023
• Self-limited growth of an oxyhydroxide phase at the Fe₃O₄(001) surface in liquid and ambient pressure water J Chem Phys 151, 154702 (2019)
• Atomic‐scale studies of Fe₃O₄(001) and TiO₂(110) surfaces following immersion in CO₂‐acidified water ChemPhysChem 21, 1788-1796 (2020)
• Rapid oxygen exchange between hematite and water vapor Nature Communications 12, 6488 (2021)