ABOUT THE GROUP
CURRENT MEMBERS
Erwan Bertin
Associate Professor
Dr. Bertin obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry (coop) at the University of Sherbrooke in 2009. He continued his studies under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Guay at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique - Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications on the synthesis of Pt(100) nanostructures and their catalytic properties. He was awarded his Ph.D in February 2016. He then worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, MD) until December 2016. In 2017, he received an Humboldt fellowship and moved to the University of Duisburg-Essen. From January 2018 to June 2019, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Calgary working in the group of Dr. Birss on new catalysts for CO2 electroreduction. In July 2019, Dr. Bertin became an assistant professor at St Francis Xavier University and was promoted to Associate with tenure in 2024.
As of now, Dr. Bertin is the co-author of 23 peer reviewed articles, and 2 patent. He has received 3 prizes and 14 scholarships during his career, and has worked in Canada, France, The Netherlands, Spain, United States and Germany.
See the group photos here!
Joey Murphy
MSc. candidate
Born in PEI, Joey Murphy is a 2022 BSc Chemistry graduate at StFX. His current project is working with Bismuth nanoparticles produced via PLAL as a catalyst for the reduction of carbon dioxide.
Anna MacPhee
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Anna is going into her third year of her BScH in chemistry (minor in math). She is from Sydney River, NS. Anna’s research is co supervised by Dr. Erwan Bertin and Dr. Geniece Hallet-Tapley. Anna will be working closely with coworkers as we continue to expand our study into light-activated hydrogen generation.
Ben Good
UndergraduaResearch Assistant
Ben is an undergraduate student from Nova Scotia. His project is the reduction of carbon dioxide using silver based catalysts, with nanoparticles made by PLAL.
![Image[12].jpeg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/53614b_cfcd613a1336439d8c12c20910f2b125~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_90,h_120,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Image%5B12%5D.jpeg)
Noah Ruscica
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Noah is an undergraduate student at StFX entering his third year of an honours in chemistry. His project is focused on the in-situ generation of hydrogen peroxide for fenton degradation, with hopes of improving the effectivity of degrading stable dyes in our environment.
Brooke Lawrie
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Brooke is an undergraduate student from rural Ontario working towards her BSc in chemistry. Her work revolves around using silver nano particles for the photo thermal degradation of PFAs.
Amaya Giraudier
Undergraduate Research Assistant
TBD
Bastien Faurie
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Bastien is a first-year student in the engineering program at Chimie ParisTech-PSL in France. His work is financed by MITACS through the Globalink Research Internship (GRI) program. He is investigating the reversibility of CO2 electrolysis, specifically the oxidation of formate in seawater using nanoparticle catalysts obtained by pulse laser ablation (PLAL).
ALUMINI
Marissa MacInnis
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Marissa MacInnis was a 4th year undergraduate student in chemistry and the co-president of St FX Chem Society. Her project was on the investigation of alternative reactions to OER for carbon dioxide electroconversion. Marissa graduated in 2020 and is now in medical school.
Rylan Clark
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Rylan Clark was a 4th year undergraduate student in chemistry . His project was on the synthesis and characterization of electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (OER) in carbon dioxide electrolyzer. Rylan graduated in 2021 and is now a dentist.
Jordan Stuart
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Jordan Stuart was going into her 4th year of undergraduate studies in chemistry and was a co-president of St FX Chem Society. In her project, she was studying the electrocatalytic activity and stability of NiFe NPs prepared by pulsed laser ablation in liquid. These nanoparticles could be promising anode catalysts in a CO2 electrolyzers. Jordan graduated in 2022 and is continuing her studies in Earth Sciences.
Abigail Moore
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Abigail Moore was an undergraduate student in chemistry at St FX and a member of St FX competitive cheerleading team. Her project was on the preparation of tin electrocatalysts by PLAL for carbon dioxide electroconversion. Abigail graduated in 2022 and continued her studies to become a teacher.
Connor Brandow
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Connor is working with Dr. MacLean and Dr. Bertin on molecular catalysts for the electroreduction of CO2. Connor graduated in 2023 and is pursuing his career at the University of Calgary.
Kyla MacDonald
Research Assistant
Kyla MacDonald graduated with a BSc. in chemistry at StFX in 2022. Her project is on the silver based catalysts for carbon dioxide reduction, using nanoparticles by PLAL. Kyla graduated in 2022.
Aaron Mason
MSc. Chemistry
Aaron Mason graduated with Honors in Chemistry in 2022 and is now continuing as a graduate student. Born and raised in rural Nova Scotia, he fell in love with science at an early age. His project is working on the elimination of aqueous pollutants in a CO2 electrolyzer. Aaron obtained his MSc. in 2024 and is now working for Nova Scotia Power.