MAHEU Clément

Categories: RESEARCHER, TEAM MIOPS, TEAM PCM

CNRS Research Fellow

Functions :

CNRS Research Fellow (Section 15 – Chemistry of materials, nanomaterials and processes)
2023-2025: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow (MSCA-PF)
2020-2023: Postdoctoral researcher with Pf. J. P. Hofmann, Pf. W. Jaegermann and Dr. T. Mayer at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

Qualifications :

2019 : PhD thesis from the University of Lyon in Chemical Physics and Catalysis under the supervision of Dr. C. Geantet, Dr. E. Puzenat, Dr. L. Cardenas, Dr. P. Afanasiev
2016: Master’s degree from ENSMAC (formerly ENSCBP) and the University of Bordeaux, specializing in Chemical Physics, Materials Chemistry and Energy.

Expertises :

Photoelectron spectroscopy for solar energy conversion materials.

Main research themes:

Thin films and nanopowders: oxides, oxynitrides, chalcogenides
Photoelectron spectroscopy: (XPS, UPS, Synchrotron)
Photocatalysis, Photoelectrocatalysis, Solar fuels

Current research projects :

Coordinator of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow Project (MSCA-PF) “Valence band engineering of oxidation materials for cheap and sustainable solar fuel production” (OMATSOLFUEL) (2023-2025).
Member of the ANR “Visible-light Photocatalysis with Ambipolar layered CHAlcogenides for Solar fuel generation” (PACHAS) (2025-2029).
Member of ANR “Bi-Based nanOmaterials for Photocatalysis” (BiBOP) (2024-2028)
Member of ANR “Development of a membrane-cell for in situ NAP-XPS characterization” (NACELL) (2022-2027)
Member of the MITI project “Des matériaux Moins nobles pour une cause Noble: vers le verdissement de la dépollution des Eaux à grande échelle par électro-oxydation” (DauMiNEau) (2024-2025)

Activities in the research community :

Member of GDR CarMANano (Groupement De Recherche Caractérisation et mesures à l’échelle nanométrique)
Responsible for the Linkedin page of the Photoemission Spectroscopy Research Federation (FR SPE)

Biography:

Clément Maheu has been a CNRS research fellow at the Institut des Matériaux de Nantes Jean Rouxel (IMN) since 2023. A specialist in materials for solar energy conversion, he designs and characterizes semiconductors (oxides, chalcogenides, oxynitrides, etc.) for the photo(electro)catalytic production of hydrogen and high value-added molecules. In particular, it has strong expertise in photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, UPS, SXPS) to characterize the surface of these materials.

He obtained his PhD at IRCELYON, under the supervision of Drs. Afanasiev, Cardenas, Géantet and Puzenat, on TiO2-supported transition metal sulfide co-catalysts for the photoconversion of alcohols. He deepened his expertise in photoelectron spectroscopy at the Technical University of Darmstadt, with Dr. Mayer, Prof. Jaegermann and Prof. Hofmann, applying these techniques to energy materials (photovoltaics, batteries and fuel cells). Back in France, he joined IMN, first as a postdoc on a Marie Skłodowska-Curie European fellowship, then as a full professor. In 2024, he was awarded the Junior Researcher prize by the Transversal Energy Division of the Société Chimique de France. More recently, he has initiated collaborations with researchers in the humanities and social sciences to question the deployment of photo(electro)catalytic technologies and maximize their environmental and social impact.

Awards :

Junior researcher award from the Société Chimique de France’s Transversal Energy Division
Thesis prize from the Catalysis 2020 Division of the Société Chimique de France

Publications :

33 (as of 05/2025)

Major illustrative publications:

C. Maheu, V. Vandalon, M. Mattinen, T. Mayer, A. A. Bol, J. P. Hofmann, p-Type Al-Doped MoS2 Nanosheet Films: Electronic and Chemical Interface Properties with Gold for Electronic Device Integration, ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2025, 8, 9669.
V. Nikolaou, D. Romito, C. Maheu, J. Hamon, E. Gautron, F. Massuyeau, S. Jobic, F. Odobel, Dual solar-driven hydrogen evolution and alcohol oxidation with CdS quantum dot-sensitized photocatalysts prepared by the SILAR methodology, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2024, 12, 30885-30891.
C. Maheu, T. Hellmann, C. Prabowo, W. Jaegermann, J. P. Hofmann, T. Mayer, Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Co-evaporated and Spin-Coated LiTFSI-Doped Spiro-OMeTAD Reveals the Interface Energetics Inside a MAPI-based Perovskite Solar Cell, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2023, 127, 43, 21351-21362.
C. Maheu, E. Puzenat, P. Afanasiev, L. Cardenas, C. Geantet, Photocatalytic production of H2 is a multi-criteria optimization problem: case study of RuS2/TiO2, Catalysis Today, 2021, 377, 166-175.
C. Maheu, L. Cardenas, E. Puzenat, P. Afanasiev, C. Geantet, UPS and UV Spectroscopies combined to position the energy levels of TiO2 anatase and rutile nanopowders, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2018, 20, 40, 25629-25637.

Link to publi HAL : https://hal.science/search/index/q/*/authIdHal_s/clement-maheu

Link to orcid :https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5417-5672

Link to scholar.google.fr : https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=u3bDR5MAAAAJ&hl=fror