Christophe BICHARA

### Current Position : Senior scientist (Directeur de Recherches CNRS) at the Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille (CINaM), a joint research center hosted by CNRS and Aix-Marseille University. ### Field of expertise: - Computational Materials science - Statistical Physics and Thermodynamics ### Research activity: ***2004-present: Carbon* *nanostructures****; Growth mechanisms of carbon Nanotubes and Graphene.* The complexity of the synthesis processes, and the nanometric scale of the objects studied required a joint experimental and computational approach. A dedicated tight binding model for carbon-transition metal alloys has been developed and implemented in a Monte Carlo code working in different statistical mechanical ensembles. A detailed analysis of the carbon metal interaction, and of the early stages of the nucleation of graphene and of single-walled carbon nanotubes has been performed. The latter emphasized the importance of the carbon solubility in the catalyst, and of the interfacial properties to control the different growth modes identified in transmission electron microscopy experiments. A statistical mechanical model has been developed recently to link the properties of the catalyst-nanotube interface, with the structure of the nanotubes grown from it. This enabled to produce structural maps and phase diagrams that will be used to design new catalysts promoting the formation of tubes with a better chiral selectivity. **1992-present: *Study of non-crystalline materials****: covalent liquids, tellurides and “Phase Change” Materials, porous systems, cements*. The main focus has been to develop simple models and computer simulation techniques to link the chemical bonding and the electronic, structural and thermodynamic properties of p-bonded systems, highlighting the role of Peierls-like distortions and entropy contributions in these non-compact systems. I also led experimental structural investigations using X-Ray or neutron scattering. I recently used computer simulations to revisit the application of Maxwell rigidity theory to various classes of disordered materials, among which Phase Change materials and cements, in relation with their aging behaviour. **1982-91: *Thermodynamics of alloys, metallurgy***. My most important result is to have proposed a method for calculating and analysing the configurational density of states and the entropy of alloys, using a Monte Carlo method. ### Career and Education: - Graduated in Chemical Engineering (Toulouse 1979) - Docteur d’Etat ès Sciences (PhD - Marseille 1988) - PostDoc at MPI für Eisenforschung (Düsseldorf, Germany, Humboldt Fellowship 1989-90) - CNRS researcher since October 1982 - Head of the Theory and Computer Simulation group at CINaM (2007-11, and 2013-17) **Contact:** <bichara@cinam.univ-mrs.fr>; +33 6 62 92 28 73; http://www.cinam.univ-mrs.fr/cinam/index.php