EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

The development and design of bimetallic electrodes by deposition of foreign adatoms on a host metal is one key tactic to tune their activity and selectivity for various electrocatalytic reactions. Here, irreversible adsorption$^{1}$ of Ni$^{2+}$ ions was used to prepare Ni(OH)$_{2}$ modified Cu(111) electrodes with different adatom coverages and to study their effect on the hydrogen evolution...

Mesoporous Co-based transition metal oxides and their electrocatalytic performance have been very well studied [1,2]. Combining two and more metals in the oxide structure is known to improve their intrinsic properties and performances. Here, we developed a series of ordered mesoporous Cu/Ni/Co oxides (CNCO) with variable composition to assess the role of hetero-metals and their synergy on...

For carbon neutral transport as well as storage of excess energy, the conversion of atmospheric CO$_2$ into valuable fuels is a promising solution.$^1$ Methanol or ethanol are especially useful as fuels, since they can be easily purified and provide a high energy density when used in fuel cells for public transport.$^2$ The reaction pathway of the CO$_2$ electroreduction (CO$_2$RR) has already...

Due to the ongoing global warming and the upcoming energy crises, the exploitation of alternative, renewable energy sources has become a major focus of materials chemistry. The ultimate solution for sustainable energy lies in the concept of solar fuels – commodity chemicals that can be generated from nothing but sunlight and abundant feedstock through heterogeneous photocatalysis. The...

Driven by the decreasing fossil fuel consumption, increasing energy demand, and environmental pollution, the search for clean and sustainable energy is attracting tremendous research interest. Photocatalytic water splitting to produce hydrogen (H2) using a semiconductor material is considered one of the most promising technologies to take advantage of solar energy conversion [1,2]. However,...

A high efficiency, low band-gap photocatalyst is presented. The platform consists of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) confined in the pores of a silicon substrate. Careful fabrication of the pores and choice of the particles allows for a maximum of two AuNPs within a single pore, preventing agglomeration. The nanoporous substrate is produced by first, creating a mask with block copolymer templating...

Utilization of excess CO2 and H2 from industrial production plants to produce methane appears a suitable route to store energy in chemicals. Nickel is a typical active metal for this reaction due to its price and availability but suffers from volatility, particle growth and carbon deposition especially in industrial feeds. Nickel can be stabilized by incorporation at the octahedral Fe-site of...

Design of active and selective co-catalysts constitutes one of the major challenges in developing heterogeneous photocatalysts for energy conversion applications. This work provides a comprehensive insight into thermally induced bottom-up generation and transformation of a series of promising Cu-based co-catalysts. We demonstrate that the volcano-type HER profile as a function of calcination...

The Suzuki coupling reaction is an important method to construct C-C bonds and has been broadly applied in fine-chemical synthesis.[1] Homogeneous Palladium catalysts were confirmed to possess a relatively high efficiency for the Suzuki reaction, but challenges with the recovery of the costly and toxic palladium catalyst were found. The alternative strategy of supported Pd nanoparticles has...

The current global energy crisis, caused by the depletion of fossil fuels and pollution that goes with it, has forced mankind to seek for alternative energy sources. Photocatalysis presents a viable solution for clean and renewable energy production: it allows the transformation of solar to chemical energy with the aid of a photocatalyst. Through it, the photon’s energy can be stored in the...

In CO2 photoreduction, the structural characteristics of the photocatalyst influences the selectivity of the reaction and the concentration of products. High specific surface area (SSA) and porosity allow for more reactants to bind on the surface of the photocatalyst. This adsorption potentially facilitates the one-electron transfer to CO2 a crucial step in CO2 photoreduction....

Porous organic polymers are at the forefront of many research efforts owing to their broad chemistries and excellent textural properties. One promising family of such materials is hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs), a set of low-cost nanoporous networks. These polymers are typically prepared by the crosslinking of aromatic compounds using simple Friedel–Crafts chemistry, allowing broad...

The increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the environment poses a great threat to human health and environmental safety, thus, CO2 utilization is of crucial importance nowadays. Noble metals especially in the nanoscale have proved to show excellent catalytic properties in many important processes. However, they are expensive materials which amount is limited, hence, search for new...

Intermetallic compounds have been recently shown as active catalysts for a range of industrial reactions including methanol decomposition or selective hydrogenation of unsaturated hydrocarbons. Already at ambient temperature they can offer high selectivities at appreciable conversion rates. Such intermetallics can be produced either in a form of nanoparticles through various, complex wet...

Perovskite-type oxides (ABO3) systems were recently proposed for the in situ growth of metal supported nanoparticles as novel high performing catalysts in heterogeneous catalysis. Perovskites possess the ability to easily incorporate catalytically active dopants forming AB1−xMxO3‑δ compositions. Subsequent exposition to reducing atmospheres (Ar/H2) at high temperatures (≈ 900 °C) these metal...

Powered by sunlight as the only energy input, artificial photosynthesis has become an especially attractive approach to store solar energy in the form of renewable fuels and chemicals. Hybrid heterojunctions based on conjugated porous polymers (CPPs) coupled to TiO2 have shown promising optoelectronic properties, such as enhanced light absorption and improved photocharge generation and...

Nanoparticle exsolution from perovskite oxides has recently received great attention, due to the ability to generate perovskite supported nanoparticles with superior metal-support interaction and coking resistance. The introduction of A-site vacancies in the perovskite lattice has also been shown to increase the population and dispersion of the exsolved nanoparticles. Furthermore, the...

Lithium is one of the critical elements for the realization of electric mobility and energy transition. However, with an import quote of 86% (2010 – 2014), a contribution to global Li-production of less than 1% (2017) and negligible recycling, Europe depends almost entirely on Li-import. To reduce the dependency, Li deposits and new and unconventional resources are explored in the EU. One...

This talk addresses some of my group’s research highlights on MOFs and other functional materials, whereby we take a curiosity-driven approach to structure and derive novel applications for MOF materials. I will discuss coordination modulation of MOFs to tune crystal morphology to produce micro and nanoparticles as well as strategies to produce MOF grass, microflower and micro-mushroom...

In this work, nitrogen-containing ordered mesoporous carbons (NOMCs) are proposed as CO2 adsorbents. The nanocasting approach, using ordered mesoporous silica hard templates, was exploited for tuning the textural features of the carbonaceous adsorbents and therefore optimizing their capture performances and the kinetics of gas diffusion. Moreover, an eco-friendly nitrogen-containing carbon...

The recent search for advanced materials with desired properties for the next-generation
self-powered electronics and environmental remediation devices has focused on the unique class of three-dimensional (3D) porous superstructures made of 2D materials, such as graphene, graphite, and molybdenum disulfide. In this work, we report an original and rational approach to create 3D metallic foams...

This work aims to contribute to the field of the nanoconfinement for catalysis, specifically in the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) from syngas of second and third generation biomass. Besides the several works in the literature with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and its applications in many topics, the nanoconfinement of metal nanoparticles in these materials and its influence on the catalytic...

Due to its unique structure and chemical properties, the synthesis of porous turbostratic boron nitride (t-BN) has received great attention during the last years. t-BN is particularly characterized by its strong adsorption affinity to oils, drugs, or exhaust gases [1] and its high thermal stability up to 900 °C. The material can hence be used for gas storage or as high-temperature catalyst...

Nanoporous metal oxides and composites are of high interest for many scientists in the field of electronics, optics and catalysis due to their precisely adjustable properties. By functionalizing the pore walls with another metal oxide species, promising core-shell oxide-oxide systems are produced combining the high specific surface area and good accessibility of the pore surface with enhanced...

Particles dispersed on the surface of oxide supports have enabled a wealth of applications in electro- photo- and heterogeneous catalysis. Dispersing nanoparticles within the bulk of oxides is, however, synthetically much more challenging and therefore less explored, but could open new dimensions to control material properties. Here we demonstrate such a concept allowing extensive, controlled...