Research Profile

Dr. Mazzio’s research focuses on developing advanced lab- and synchrotron-based methods to study energy storage materials under operating conditions. Her current work centers on the behavior of batteries under extreme conditions using techniques such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray imaging, among others. Her international research activities have included extensive work at synchrotron facilities such as BESSY II, PETRA III, ESRF, Solaris, and the Advanced Light Source (ALS). She has coordinated national and international collaborative projects, including a DFG–NSF program on interfacial chemistry in sulfide-based solid-state batteries (“INCUBATOR” DFG proposal number 542015736) and acts as the local coordinator at TU Wien for the TU Austria Doctoral School “TU-BRIDGE” which focuses on battery imaging, durability, aging, and recycling. She serves on project review panels at DESY and ESRF and is active in the Materials Research Society’s Academic Affairs Committee and Awards Committee. She has authored more than 35 peer-reviewed publications and supervised 7 PhD positions and numerous master’s and bachelor’s projects.

CV

Dr. Katherine A. Mazzio holds a joint position as Senior Scientist at the Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics and the X-ray Center of TU Wien, which she joined in September 2025. Originally from Portland, Oregon, USA, she studied Physics and Chemistry at Portland State University for her bachelor’s degrees. She obtained her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 2014 working with Prof. Christine Luscombe on organic electronics. After a short postdoctoral position at the University of Washington, she moved to Berlin in 2015 to join the Institute for Nanospectroscopy at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin to work with Prof. Simone Raoux at the Energy Materials In-Situ Laboratory, and later moved to the joint research group Operando Battery Analysis at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and Humboldt University of Berlin, where she worked with Prof. Philipp Adelhelm and led projects on operando and in-situ X-ray characterization of solid-state and sodium-ion battery materials.