He graduated as an engineer from École Polytechnique in 1984, earned a DEA in Solid-State Physics from Université Paris-Sud (Orsay) in 1985, and completed his PhD at the same university in 1988. He has been a researcher at the CNRS since 1988, working at the PMC Laboratory (UMR 7643). He served as Director of the PMC Laboratory from 2005 to 2014 and has been Chair of the Chemistry Department at École Polytechnique since 2012.

Physics and electrochemistry of semiconductor and electrolyte interfaces, vibrational spectroscopy at surfaces and at the electrochemical interface, physics and chemistry of porous silicon, molecular layers and functionalization of semiconductor surfaces and interfaces, amorphous semiconductors and their applications to biosensors and electrodes for lithium-ion batteries.