Winner of the Golden Master Award 2025
Winner of the Golden Master Award 2025
Tarik Zahzah
Probing Cation Migration in Mesoporous IrO2 Using Electrochemical Impedence Spectroscopy, TU Delft
The Golden Master Award Jury has nominated the thesisof Tarik Zahzah, entitled “Probing Cation Migration in Mesoporous IrO2 Using Electrochemical Impedence” as First Prize / Winner of the Golden Master Award 2025.
Motivated by the global challenge of green energy production and storage, Tarik Zahzah’s thesis contributes novel insight into the role of electrolyte cations in the performance of iridium oxide electrocatalysts, crucial for sustainable hydrogen production. By combining electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) with rigorous modeling, he explores how the migration of cations affects redox kinetics at the catalyst surface. His results illuminate previously unexplained behaviors and provide a methodology to assess electrolyte-catalyst interactions in porous oxides; findings of significant value for industrial water electrolysis.
The jury was impressed by the comprehensive presentation of the thesis, the conceptual depth and scientific rigor, and the clarity of writing. Even to those less familiar with impedance spectroscopy or porous catalyst materials, the thesis offers an accessible narrative, well-structured theoretical chapters, and meticulous descriptions of both experimental and analytical methods. The graphical representations and supporting analyses are of outstanding quality. Tarik’s independent approach and experimental perseverance stood out. Starting from a conceptually difficult and technically ambitious project, he built a custom measurement setup, developed new protocols to ensure reproducibility, and collaborated with industrial partners to optimize catalyst films. He also constructed a new equivalent circuit model informed by concepts from battery science, which he validated through probing discussions with specialists and detailed analytical tests. The impact of Tarik’s work is already visible. His methodology will be used by other electrochemistry groups in Leiden, and the results are being prepared for publication. He was also invited by Pine Research to present his work to a global audience of electrochemists. His thesis introduction on EIS was even recommended for publication on its own merit by faculty experts. According to his supervisor, Dr. Rik Mom, Tarik was given a project that was new to the group, so he could really make it his own independent project. In doing so, he overcame experimental and theoretical hurdles that would have been too much for most PhD students, practically teaching his supervisors about new insights along the way. Tarik Zahzah received a 9.5 for his thesis and graduated cum laude from the MSc Chemistry program at Leiden University. He is currently continuing his research as a PhD candidate in the HyPRO consortium, part of the GroenVermogenNL program. Based on this outstanding achievement, the jury proudly selected the thesis of Tarik Zahzah as the winner of the 2025 Golden Master Award.
The other two prizes were awarded to:
- Renate Baarslag, Utrecht University
'Mechano-Catalytic Conversion of Polyolefins'
- Maartje van der Meer, TU Delft
'Towards quantification of defect passivation by additives in mixed Sn-Pb perovskites'
