CV Giada Franceschi, opens an external URL in a new window (08/2026)

• 30 peer-reviewed publications (as of 08/2026)
• List of publications (reposiTUm)
• List of publications (Google Scholar)
• ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3525-5399

2025 — present: PI of the FWF Elise Richter Fellowship “Surface reactivity of silicates at the atomic level (SURREAL), opens an external URL in a new window” and Co-PI of the Research Group “Pushing Oxide Catalysis: Atomic-Scale View at Photocharges (POP), opens an external URL in a new window” together with Michele Reticcioli and Laerte Patera, TU Wien, Austria
2024 — 2025: Maternity Leave
2021 — 2024: Postdoctoral Research Associate at TU Wien, Austria (Advisor: Ulrike Diebold)
2020 — 2021: Postdoctoral Research Associate at FU Berlin, Germany (Advisor: Katharina J. Franke)
2016 — 2020: PhD in Physics, TU Wien, Austria (Advisor: Ulrike Diebold)
 

• Surface science of metal oxides (In₂O₃, Cu₂O, Fe₂O₃, SrTiO₃, La_1−xSr_xMnO₃) and silicate minerals (micas, feldspars, wollastonite)
• Atomically controlled growth of metal oxide thin films
• Scanning probe microscopy (AFM/STM)
• Mineral surfaces
• Ice nucleation
• CO₂ sequestration

Dr. Giada Franceschi earned her Ph.D. in Physics from TU Wien in 2020, focusing on the atomic-scale growth and characterization of functional metal-oxide surfaces using pulsed laser deposition and ultra-high-vacuum surface-science techniques. She previously received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Politecnico di Milano, including her Master’s thesis at TU Wien. From 2020 to 2021, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Freie Universität Berlin, where she studied the interplay between magnetism and superconductivity in two-dimensional heterostructures using scanning tunneling microscopy. In 2021, she returned to TU Wien as a postdoctoral researcher, shifting her focus to the atomic-scale investigation of mineral surfaces and mineral-water interactions, including adsorption, ice nucleation, and surface reactions. Since 2025, she has been a Principal Investigator at TU Wien, leading research on the surface chemistry of silicate minerals and metal oxides. Her current research combines atomic-resolution scanning probe microscopy with surface-science methods to investigate mineral reactivity.

1. L. Lezuo, A. Conti, A. Hoheneder, E. Vaníčková, D. A. Aloi, R. Abart, F. Mittendorfer, M. Schmid, U. Diebold, and G. Franceschi, Water adsorption on a model silicate surface: wollastonite (100), Nanoscale 18, 13422-13432 (2026).
2. A. Conti, L. Lezuo, A. Hoheneder, E. Vaníčková, D. A. Aloi, A. Steiger-Thirsfeld, D. Heuser, R. Abart, F. Mittendorfer, M. Schmid, U. Diebold, and G. Franceschi, Molecular Views of Mineral Carbonation: Reaction of CO₂ with the Wollastonite (100) Surface, ACS Nano 20, 10456–10465 (2026).
3. G. Franceschi, A. Conti, L. Lezuo, R. Abart, F. Mittendorfer, M. Schmid, and U. Diebold, NH₃ adsorption and competition with H₂O on a hydroxylated aluminosilicate surface, J. Chem. Phys., 160, 164312 (2024). Editor’s choice
4. G. Franceschi, A. Conti, L. Lezuo, R. Abart, F. Mittendorfer, M. Schmid, and U. Diebold, How water binds to microcline feldspar (001), J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 15, 15−22 (2024). Editor’s choice
5. G. Franceschi, S. Brandstetter, J. Balajka, J. Pavelec, I. Sokolovic, M. Setvin, M. Schmid, and U. Diebold, Interaction of surface cations of cleaved mica with water in vapor and liquid form, Faraday Discussions 249, 84-97 (2024)
6. G. Franceschi, P. Kocan, A. Conti, S. Brandstetter, J. Balajka, I. Sokolovic, M. Valtiner, F. Mittendorfer, M. Schmid, M. Setvin, and U. Diebold, Resolving the intrinsic short-range ordering of K+ ions on cleaved muscovite mica, Nat. Commun. 14, 208 (2023).