Salem Ba Sowid obtained his PhD in materials physics and chemistry from Sorbonne University in 2025. He carried out his research at LCMCP and IPCM, under the supervision of Dr François Ribot and Prof Louis Fensterbank. His work has focused on the development of new approaches to the synthesis of metal nanoparticles stabilized by N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) and mesoionic carbenes (MICs), with a particular interest in gold nanoparticles. He has also worked on the development of NHC-for-NHC ligand exchange strategies to achieve precise control of the composition of the NHC layer on the surface of AuNPs, and on the functionalization of flat gold surfaces with NHCs. His work lies at the interface between organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry and the synthesis and functionalization of nanomaterials.
Prior to his PhD, he completed a master's degree in nanochemistry at Grenoble-Alpes University in 2021, during which he carried out a research internship in France. He had previously completed a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry at the University of the United Arab Emirates, where he carried out two research experiments in the United Arab Emirates.
Salem's main research interests focus on developing new methods for synthesizing functional nanomaterials and understanding the control of their size, shape and surface properties, with potential applications in catalysis.
At the same time, Salem is working as a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Fensterbank's laboratory, where he is investigating the implementation of new ligand families on gold surfaces and gold nanoparticles. He is also interested in the synthesis of metal nanoparticles, particularly bismuth-based systems.
