Manon Cot-Auriol, winner of the Marie Curie Sklodowska 2023 prize

Manon Cot-Auriol, a research engineer in radiochemistry at EDF's industrial division, has been awarded the Marie Curie Sklodowska 2023 prize for her thesis work at the ICSM (Laboratoire de Sonochimie dans les Fluides Complexes, LSFC) and Atalante (Laboratoire des Interaction Ligands Actinides, LILA) laboratories on the "Synthesis and characterisation of colloidal actinide nanoparticles and study of their formation mechanisms". This prize is awarded each year to young doctors who have made significant advances in the fields of radiochemistry or radiation chemistry. The prize, awarded by the Radiation Chemistry and Radiochemistry Subdivision (CRRC) of the Société Chimique de France (SCF, Chimie-Physique DCP division), in partnership with the Association Curie Joliot-Curie (ACJC), rewards dissertation work in areas of research initiated by Marie Curie, thus celebrating her legacy. The selection committee unanimously praised the quality of her work, which has enhanced our understanding of plutonium hydrolysis mechanisms and the characterisation of actinide oxide nanoparticles.

^{Credit: M. Cot-Auriol / ICSM}

The prize will be officially awarded at the 3rd Rencontres Rayonnement Radio-Chimie (R3C) organised by the ICSM and ISEC from 18 to 20 June 2024 in Nîmes.

Manon Cot-Auriol's main results are available in the following articles:

[1] First observation of [Pu₆(OH)₄O₄]¹²⁺ cluster during the hydrolytic formation of PuO₂ nanoparticles using H/D kinetic isotope effect. M. Cot-Auriol, M. Virot, Th. Dumas, O. Diat, D. Menut, Ph. Moisy, and S. I. Nikitenko. Chemical Commununications 58 (2022) 13147–13150. DOI: 10.1039/D2CC04990B

[2] Ultrasonically assisted conversion of uranium trioxide into uranium(VI) intrinsic colloids. M. Cot-Auriol, M. Virot, C. Micheau, Th. Dumas, X. Le Goff, Ch. Den Auwer, O. Diat, Ph. Moisy, and S. I. Nikitenko. Dalton Transactions 50 (2021) 11498–11511. DOI : 10.1039/D1DT01609A

[3] Ultrasonically controlled synthesis of UO_2+x colloidal nanoparticles. M. Cot-Auriol, M. Virot, Th. Dumas, O. Diat, X. Le Goff, Ph. Moisy, and S. I. Nikitenko. Dalton Transactions 52 (2023) 2135–2144. DOI : 10.1039/D2DT03721A

[4] Synthesis and multi-scale properties of PuO₂ nanoparticles: recent advances and open questions. M. Virot, Th. Dumas, M. Cot-Auriol, Ph. Moisy, and S. I. Nikitenko. Nanoscale Advances 4 (2022) 4938–4971. DOI : 10.1039/D2NA00306F