Marielle Yasmine AGBAHOUNGBATA holds a PhD degree in inorganic chemistry from University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC) in Benin. In September 2017, she won the first prize of international competition “Ma These en 180s” in Belgium. Her research focus on the development of titanium dioxide (TiO2) based photocatalyst materials for wastewater purification.
TiO2 has gained attention for applications in environmental remediation (water, air, surfaces sanitization) due to its oxidation properties. However, the efficiency of TiO2 is limited by various factors such as band gap, which restrains its application to the UV-region of the electromagnetic spectrum, small surface area, etc. Therefore, Dr AGBAHOUNGBATA developed a nitrogen-doped photocatalysts based on TiO2 immobilized on supports such as mineral clay. Clays allow increasing the surface area while the nitrogen doping improves TiO2 efficiency both under UV and visible light, a trump for utilization of solar light as energy source. Her work has gained attention in the scientific community winning her several stipends to do internship and to participate in conferences in Senegal, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Romania, Japan, Switzerland, Belgium and India.
Dr AGBAHOUNGBATA served as a teaching assistant for a Crystallochemistry course at UAC. Since 2014, she is developing a network of crystallographers in Africa as a member of the Steering Committee of the African Crystallographic Association. She is also a member of the West African Chemistry Society. In 2014, with her colleagues, she initiated a crystal growing competition for young students with the support of UNESCO and the International Union of Crystallography. Her team organized several workshops on topics related to crystallography.
Since her youth, she has a particular interest for the periodic table and has composed a song of 118 elements that she intends to teach students.
