# Azzedine Bousseksou

Azzedine Bousseksou (born December 2, 1964) is a Franco-Algerian physical chemist specializing in molecular materials and spintronics. He is widely recognized for his contributions to the study of spintronics phenomena, molecular electronics, and nanotechnology. His research focuses on the development of functional molecular materials with applications in memory storage, sensors, and optoelectronic devices.

## Education

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 Mainz.

## Career

Bousseksou began his career in 1993 as a research fellow at the Coordination Chemistry Laboratory (LCC) of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Toulouse. In January 2003, while in charge of research at the LCC-CNRS Toulouse, he created and directed the scientific team "Switchable Molecular Materials". He also directed the GDR Magnétisme et Commutation Moléculaires from 2006 to 2009 and co-coordinated the GDRI France-Japan on multifunctional molecular materials between 2006 and 2010. Between 2011 and 2013, he was Deputy Director of the LCC-CNRS Toulouse and has been Director since 2013. 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, and is a member of the European Institute on Molecular Magnetism (EIMM).
With his research team being made up of 3 other permanent staff members (Gabor Molnar, DR-CNRS, Lionel Salmon DR-CNRS and William Nicolazzi, MCF-Université Paul Sabatier), his achievements are the following.
* The development of the lsing-type model with two electronic levels for one- and two-step spin transitions with the prediction of symmetry breaks.
* 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.
* The discovery of the first hysteresis of the dielectric constant in spin-transition complexes.
* The discovery of the first double photo-switching in binuclear spin-transition compounds
* The first photo-switching at room temperature.
* The first synthesis of spin-transition thin films at room temperature (new layer-by-layer concept for spin transition).
* The first nano-structuring of bistable materials with spin transition at room temperature.
* The synthesis of the smallest spin-transition coordination nanoparticles (4nm) with hysteresis around room temperature.
* The original synthesis of a hybrid system combining spin transition and fluorescence for the purpose of detecting the spin transition property on the single nanoobject.
* The development of a new generation of active devices based on photonic/plasmonic spin-transition materials, diffractive gas sensors, Nano-Thermometers and also Nano-Electronics, and spintronic devices.
* 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).
Bousseksou is a founding member of the Algerian Academy of Sciences and Technologies (2015), as well as being a member of the French Academy of Sciences (2013), the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2012) and the European Academy of sciences (2014).