Speakers - Summer School 2024
Table of contents
Prof. Murielle Delley
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
SNSF Prima Fellow, Branco Weiss Fellow
Murielle F. Delley studied chemistry at ETH Zurich and received her PhD in organometallic surface chemistry from ETH Zurich in 2017 under Professor Christophe Copéret. She then worked as a postdoc with Professor James M. Mayer at Yale, USA, on proton and electron transfer at interfaces. In 2020, she started her independent research at the University of Basel with an SNSF PRIMA, a Branco Weiss Society in Science Fellowship and recently with an SNSF Starting Grant. In 2023, she was appointed Assistant Professor of Inorganic Chemistry with tenure-track status in Basel.
Her research focuses on interfacial chemistry and catalysis of inorganic materials.
Bridging Electrocatalysis and Thermocatalysis by Inorganic Materials
Heterogeneous catalysis is essential to most industrial chemical processes. However, these processes are often not efficient or selective enough, and typically use rare and expensive noble metals as catalysts. Improving the sustainability of current processes will rely on the development of new control elements in catalysis and of earth-abundant materials as catalysts.
Earth-abundant transition metal phosphides and sulfides have recently emerged as promising materials for electrocatalytic water splitting, but these materials are underexplored for thermal catalysis. This talk will discuss our current efforts in developing transition metal phosphides and sulfides for thermal catalytic applications by leveraging knowledge built through research on their electrocatalytic properties. I will further discuss the use of controlled surface modification approaches and electric fields to tune the interfacial chemistry of inorganic materials.
Prof. Kazunari Dōmen
University of Tokyo, JP and Shinshu University, JP
Professor, School of Engineering
Kazunari Domen received his BSc, MSc, and PhD (1982) honors in Chemistry from the University of Tokyo. He then joined the Chemical Resources Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1982 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1990 and Professor in 1996. He moved to the University of Tokyo in 2004 and was cross appointed by Shinshu University as a Special Contract Professor in 2017. He became a University Professor at the University of Tokyo in 2019.
Domen has contributed to various fields in catalysis for many decades. He especially devoted himself to photocatalytic water splitting of artificial photosynthesis as his major life work.
Photocatalytic Sater Splitting to Produce Green Hydrogen and Fuels on a Large Scale
Sunlight-driven water splitting using particulate photocatalysts has been attracting growing interest as a means of producing renewable solar hydrogen on a large scale. A solar hydrogen production system based on 100 m2 arrayed photocatalytic water splitting panels and an oxyhydrogen gas-separation module was built, and its performance and system characteristics including safety issues were reported recently. Nevertheless, it is essential to radically improve the solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency (STH) of particulate photocatalysts and develop suitable reaction systems. In my talk, recent progress in photocatalytic materials and reaction systems for solar fuel production will be presented.
Recently, the apparent quantum yield (AQY) of overall water splitting using SrTiO3 has been improved to more than 90% at 365 nm, equivalent to an internal quantum efficiency of almost unity, by refining the preparation conditions of the photocatalyst and cocatalysts. For practical solar hydrogen production, however, it is essential to develop photocatalysts that are active under visible light. Ta3N5, Y2Ti2O5S2, TaON, and BaTaO2N were shown to be active in photocatalytic overall water splitting via one-step excitation under visible light.
It is possible to combine hydrogen evolution photocatalysts (HEPs) and oxygen evolution photocatalysts (OEPs) to split water into hydrogen and oxygen via two-step excitation. Particulate photocatalyst sheets consisting of La- and Rh-codoped SrTiO3 as the HEP and Mo-doped BiVO4 as the HEP immobilized onto Au and C layers split water into hydrogen and oxygen with STH values exceeding 1.0%. Some (oxy)chalcogenides and (oxy)nitrides with long absorption edge wavelengths are also applicable to Z-schematic photocatalyst sheets. It is also possible to combine Sm2Ti2O5S2 as HEP and BiVO4 as OEP with carbon materials such as rGO and/or CNT.
In addition to water splitting reaction to form green hydrogen, some other green fuels production will be discussed. Especially, CH4 formation with CO2 methanation will be discussed in detail.
Prof. María Escudero Escribano
ICREA and ICN2, ES
https://www.nanoesclab.com (Group Website)
ICREA Professor, Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
María Escudero Escribano graduated in Chemical Engineering from the University of Extremadura and obtained her PhD in Chemistry from the Autonomous University of Madrid (2011). She was a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Denmark and Stanford University. She joined the University of Copenhagen as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in March 2017 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. María joined the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) as an ICREA Professor in 2022, where she leads the NanoElectrocatalysis and Sustainable Chemistry (NanoESC) Group. Her research combines electrochemistry, materials engineering, and operando spectroscopy and microscopy to elucidate the design principles for the discovery of tailored materials for sustainable energy conversion.
Tailored Electrocatalytic Interfaces for Renewable Fuels and Chemicals Production
Tailoring and elucidating the structure of the electrified interface and the electrocatalytically active sites at the atomic and molecular levels is key to design advanced materials for sustainable energy conversion. This talk will focus on recent strategies to understand and tune the structure-property relationships for different electrocatalytic reactions of interest to produce renewable fuels and chemicals. These reactions include oxygen evolution for green hydrogen production along with electrochemical carbon dioxide and methane conversion into value-added chemicals.
First, I will present our work toward understanding and tuning the structure-activity relations for oxygen evolution in acidic electrolytes. Then, I will show our model studies on well-defined Cu-based surfaces to assess the interfacial properties for the electrochemical CO2 and CO reduction reactions. We have investigated new methods to evaluate and tailor the facet distribution on Cu-based catalysts. Finally, I will discuss some strategies for selective oxidation reactions including the electrochemical partial oxidation of methane to produce liquid fuels such as methanol.
Prof. Kevin Sivula
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
Leader of LIMNO Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Optoelectronic Nanomaterials
Kevin Sivula studied at the University of Minnesota, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. He continued his studies at the University of California (Berkeley), in the research group of Prof. Jean Fréchet. During his thesis research he worked to develop strategies to control the morphology of conjugated polymer-based photovoltaic devices and gained his PhD in 2007. Sivula then joined the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces (LPI, led by Professor Michael Grätzel) at the EPFL. There he developed nanostructured films with iron oxide for hydrogen production using solar energy. He was promoted to research group leader in 2008 and in 2011 he accepted an appointment as tenure-track assistant professor at EPFL in the Institute of Chemical Science and Engineering.
Currently he is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and he leads the LIMNO lab while also teaching courses on transport phenomena, chemical engineering practicals, product design, and solar energy conversion systems.
Organic Semiconductor Bulk Heterojunctions for Direct Solar-Driven Water Splitting
Organic semiconductors are emerging as promising materials for photoelectro-chemical (PEC) or heterogeneous photocatalytic water splitting given their molecular tunability and scalable processability. The bulk heterojunction (BHJ) concept, which has been successfully developed for organic semiconductor-based photovoltaic devices, offers a promising route to high-performance and inexpensive photocatalyst nanoparticles for solar hydrogen production. However, the suitability of organic semiconductors (OSs) towards robust and high efficiency photocatalytic water splitting remains an open question. Herein, efforts to understand the stability of OS-based BHJ photoelectrodes for both solar-driven water reduction and oxidation are discussed towards bias-free solar-driven water splitting. In addition, translating the BHJ concept into nanoparticle photocatalysts is examined including aspects of co-catalyst deposition and controlling nanoparticle morphology.
Veronika Schelling
Hydrogen Mobility & Energy Leader
Veronika Schelling studied mechanical engineering at ETH Zurich and received her master’s degree in process engineering in 2010. After ten years of experience at Sulzer as a process engineer (process design of polymer production plants, detail engineering) and senior application manager (lead for technical and commercial sales of separation processes and equipment), she went to work with Burckhardt Compression in 2021. There, Veronika Schelling has been the leader for Hydrogen Mobility & Energy for the past two years. She is responsible for a team of experts focusing on strategy, business development, product management for Hydrogen compression solutions for global mobility & energy applications.
Application of Hydrogen for Decarbonization of Industry and Mobility, Transport and Storage of Renewable Energy
Hydrogen is a key element needed for the energy transition. I will provide you with insights on todays' and future use of hydrogen and its derivatives, such as ammonia. As provider of compressor systems, Burckhardt Compression is involved in realization of large hydrogen projects globally, and is working towards a clear purpose of being the leading compressor supplier for applications enabling a sustainable energy future.
Prof. Atsushi Urakawa
Professor of Catalysis Engineering
Atsushi Urakawa obtained his BSc degree in Applied Chemistry at Kyushu University (Japan) with one year stay in the USA. He then moved to Europe and studied Chemical Engineering at TU Delft for his MSc degree and obtained his PhD in 2006 at ETH Zurich. He worked as Senior Scientist and Lecturer at ETH and in 2010 he joined ICIQ (Spain) as Group Leader. In 2019, he undertook a new challenge as Professor of Catalysis Engineering at ChemE, TU Delft. He is elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2016) and the recipient of JSPS Prize (2020) and The Japan Academy Medal (2021).
The Urakawa group develops novel heterogeneous catalysts and catalytic processes with the aim to minimize energy usage and negative impacts of such processes, while achieving high product yield and selectivity. They take a multi-disciplinary approach based on material science, reaction engineering and in situ / operando methodologies.
Operando Elucidation of Catalytic Transformation Mechanisms
Catalysis plays vital roles in the modern society and for environmental protection. Its future importance is expected to be even more pronounced due to urged energy transition for which catalysis provides enabling functions of emerging technologies. Despite the current and future importance of catalysis, the design of catalyst materials defined on the nanometer-scale, especially their active sites where desired reactions take place, is far from the dream of catalysis researcher, namely rational catalyst design. This gap between the reality (trial-and-error catalyst design) and the dream (rational catalyst design) largely arises from the lack of precise understanding of catalyst materials and reactive intermediates under working, so-called, operando conditions.
In this talk, representative operando methodologies in studying catalyst materials and active species residing at catalytic gas-solid and solid-liquid interfaces are presented. I explain methodologies to boost detection sensitivity and add detection selectivity to catch active sites/species taking some (photo)catalytic reactions as examples. Recent development on spatiotemporal approaches on the reactor scale in combination with kinetic studies is highlighted.