Azzedine Bousseksou

Azzedine Bousseksou (born 2 December 1964) is a Franco-Algerian physical chemist known for his contributions to molecular materials and spintronics.

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Azzedine Bousseksou received his diploma in Material Physics from the Université de Bab Ezzouar in Algiers, in 1983, his Diplôme d'études approfondies (DEA) in Materials Science from the University of Nantes, in 1988, and his PhD in Materials Science from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, in 1992. His doctoral internship was at the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory of Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz.^[1]

Bousseksou began his career as a research fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) Coordination Chemistry Laboratory in Toulouse, in 1993.^[1][2] In January 2003, while in charge of Research at the LCC-CNRS Toulouse, he created and directed the scientific team "Switchable Molecular Materials".^[3] From 2005 and 2009, he also directed the GDR Magnétisme et Commutation Moléculaires and co-coordinated the GDRI France-Japan on multifunctional molecular materials between 2006-2010. Between 2011 and 2013, he was Deputy Director of the LCC-CNRS Toulouse and has been Director since 2013.^[4] Azzedine Bousseksou was a member of the CNRS national committee for the evaluation of researchers and research laboratories from 2000 to 2004 and from 2010 to 2015 and has coordinated and/or led several European, national, and regional projects. He has been a member of the European Network of Excellence on Molecular Magnetism, REX MAGMANET,^[5] and is a member of the European Institute on Molecular Magnetism (EIMM).

He and his team developed three complementary conceptual approaches, which include:

•    The transition from spin & Nano-Electronic Transport (molecular spintronics) with the setting up of the very first molecular devices allowing the coupling of a spin state with electronic transport in a nanometric junction,
•    The transition from spin & optics towards high-performance photonic devices with the implementation of Nano-Thermometric Sensors (patented) that surpass current commercial devices,
•    Spin transition & reversible variation of molecular volume with the realization of the first Nano-Actuators with controlled direction whose chemical combination with polymers allowed the implementation of active materials "artificial muscles" with advanced applications in robotics and Micro-Nano-Mechanics.

With his research team is made up of 3 other permanent staff members (Gabor Molnar, DR-CNRS, Lionel Salmon DR-CNRS and William Nicolazzi, MCF-Université Paul Sabatier), among his achievements are the following:

•    The development of the lsing-type model with two electronic levels for one- and two-step spin transition with prediction of symmetry breaks.^[6]
•    The discovery of the first magneto-switching by the application of an intense magnetic field (32 Tesla) pulsed into the hysteresis cycle of a spin transition molecule (Fe(Phen)2(NCS)2) allowing the information to be addressed from the high spin (HS) state to the low spin (BS) state, by a nucleation growth phenomenon whose dynamic effects are the subject of particular attention at the experimental and theoretical levels.^[7][8]
•    The discovery of the first hysteresis of the dielectric constant in spin-transition complexes.^[9][10][11]
•    The discovery of the first double photo-switching in binuclear spin-transition compounds^[12]
•    The first photo-switching at room temperature.^[13]
•    The first synthesis of spin-transition thin films at room temperature (new layer-by-layer concept for spin transition).^[11][14]
•    The first Nano-Structuring of Bistable materials with spin transition at room temperature.^[15]
•    The synthesis of the smallest spin-transition coordination nanoparticles (4nm) with hysteresis around room temperature.^[16]
•    The original synthesis of a hybrid system combining spin transition and fluorescence for the purpose of detecting the spin transition property on the single Nano-Object.^[17]
•    The development of a new generation of active devices based on photonic/plasmonic spin-transition materials,^[18] diffractive gas sensors,^[19] Nano-Thermometers^[17] and also Nano-Electronics,^[20] and spintronic devices.^[21]
•    The recent development of switchable molecular materials for direction-controlled micro- and Nano-Actuation by exploiting the reversible volume variation of spin-transition molecules (development of the first artificial muscle prototypes) with thermo- or photo-induced actuation for robotic applications (ERC 2019 project under evaluation).^{[22][23][24][25][26]}

He has supervised about twenty post-doctoral students and more than thirty theses.

He has registered 12 patents, 2 of which are being exploited, and one startup in incubation.

Bousseksou is a founding member of the Algerian Academy of Sciences and Technologies (2015), as well as a member of the French Academy of Sciences (2013),^[27] the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2012) and the European Academy of sciences (2014).