To construct catalysts that can produce fuels from CO2 innumerable times, we need to learn much more about how catalysis works. Irene Groot is conducting groundbreaking research into catalysis at the atomic level.

From surface science towards industrial practice using high-pressure scanning tunneling microscopy.

The dissertation describes TEM experiments on heterogeneous catalysts.

Promotor: M.T.M. Koper, Co-Promotor: L.B.F. Juurlink

Organic molecules in interstellar space are important as they influence the structure of galaxies and star formations. Studying catalytic processes in space allows us to understand how molecular species are formed and chemically evolved in the interstellar medium and solar system objects.

As a virtually inexhaustible source, solar energy plays a major role in future global energy scenarios.

Before the large scale use of renewable energy sources can be implemented in our society, the storage of electrical energy needs to be tackled. Storage the energy as hydrogen via the reduction of protons is a good option.

In surface science there is great effort to move from studying simple, flat model surfaces in vacuum to investigating more complex model catalysts in gas environments (in situ). This thesis gives three examples of such studies using microscopy and spectroscopy.

Human civilization consumes a huge amount of fossil fuels, which has resulted in an atmospheric CO2 level which has not been higher in over 800 millennia.

The aim of this research project was to increase understanding of which collaborative learning approaches already exist in conservatoire education, and how implementation of collaborative learning could be supported.

In this dissertation iron-based homogeneous catalysts were synthesized, characterized and investigated for water oxidation activity.

This work describes several studies into the electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR), both regarding mechanistical aspects and catalyst stability considerations. Mechanistic insights into carbon-carbon bond formation on a silver catalyst are described in Ch 2, were we find an acetaldehyde-like surface…

The electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an essential half-reaction for the utilization of hydrogen as a sustainable fuel, via the conversion of hydrogen to electrons and protons facilitated by the ORR. In the most common fuel cells, the ORR is requires high loadings of non-abundant platinum…

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.W.M. Frenken

With the energy transition toward a renewable energy supply and a CO2-neutral economy, electrification of the energy system is rising in importance, which leads to the challenge of long-term storage of renewable electricity.

Promotors: Prof.dr. E. Bouwman, Prof.dr. E. Drent

PhD Defence

Cars are equipped with catalysts to disarm toxic exhaust gases. Platinum plays an important role there. Leiden physicists and chemists have now for the first time seen the mechanism behind a platinum catalyst. With a fundamental understanding of the process, scientists can use this rare material more…

Since its inception, a central preoccupation of and for the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been the nature of its relationship to national jurisdictions. Complementarity—the idea that the Court is intended to supplement, not supplant, national jurisdictions—has been the dominant juridical logic…

An international team of researchers, including Federico Calle-Vallejo of Leiden University’s Institute of Chemistry, have taken the atomic-scale design of catalysts to the next level. Their research contributes to the quest for a method to generate or store energy more efficiently. The report is published…

A catalyst: normally a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction, without adding molecules to this reaction. Scientists from the group of Prof. Marc Koper of Leiden University and Prof. Yang Shao-Horn of MIT now discovered that in specific reactions that need oxygen, catalysts called metal oxides…

A discovery made in Leiden helps not only to make natural gas from CO2 but also to store renewable energy. Research by Professor Marc Koper and PhD student Jing Shen shows how this process can be implemented in a cost-effective and controllable way. Nature Communications, 2 september 2015.

Physical chemist Rik Mom developed a revolutionary way to investigate catalysts in action in detail. For this work he received the distinction cum laude during his PhD defence on 29 June.

Catalysts are indispensable in everyday life. We know what they do and more or less how they do it, but we still lack a fundamental understanding about their functioning at an atomic scale. Therefore, Irene Groot from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry develops new measuring techniques to unravel the…

Research of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry into the development of a sustainable fuel cell has accidentally resulted in an exceptionally efficient catalyst for the production of hydrogen peroxide. The catalyst, discovered by Dennis Hetterscheid and PhD candidate Michiel Langerman, may lead to a more…

Which collaborative learning approaches already exist in conservatoire education, and how could such approaches be implemented? This is the subject of Tamara Rumiantsev’s (PhD candidate at ICLON) thesis. Defence on 14 April 2022.

This thesis focuses on the synthesis, characterization and performance towards CO2 electroreduction of mono and bi-metallic particles based on p-block metals

Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is an ubiquitous part of oil refining that ensures that fuels are cleaned of impurities and environment release of pollutants such as SOx and NOx gasses are minimized.

Promotor: J.W.M. Frenken Co-Promotores: I.M.N. Groot; L.B.F. Juurlink

The nanoscale structure of a catalyst under reaction conditions determines its activity, selectivity, and stability. For the production of sustainable energy and materials, new catalysts are needed. By understanding the structure-activity relationships of catalysts under reaction conditions, insight…

Research at the Catalysis and Surface Chemistry group is comprised of the following research themes:

Can we tailor catalysts at the atomic scale by means of high-school chemistry and geometry rules?

Synthetic fuel is cleaner than natural oil, but its production process needs to be more efficient. Now for the first time, physicists have directly observed the molecules produced in the chemical process. This paves the way for designing more efficient catalysts. Publication on September 19th in Nature…

M.T.M. Koper, Co-promotor: D.G.H. Hetterscheid

Promotor: J.W.M. Frenken, Co-Promotor: R. Felici

The mechanism of the electrochemical reduction of dioxygen by a mononuclear pyridylalkylamine copper complex was investigated (see picture). It was shown that in neutral aqueous solution dioxygen undergoes stepwise reduction, wherein hydrogen peroxide plays a key role. The rate constants determined…

Promotor: M.T.M. Koper, Co-promotor: J.B.F. Juurlink

Heterogeneous catalysis is essential to many industrial applications. These catalysts are often comprised of supported nanoparticles, which contain various different surface sites.

Through an NWO grant, chemist Rik Mom has received a tenure track position at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, where he obtained his PhD cum laude in 2017. Mom will study the storage of sustainable energy by means of splitting water. Using new methods, he will investigate on an atomic scale which…

PhD Defence

Promotor: M.T.M. Koper, Co-Promotor: F. Calle-Vallejo

Molecular complexes can be used as electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction, water oxidation, and/or hydrogen peroxide production.

PhD Defence

Catalysis is of extreme relevance in the production of everyday materials and plays a central role in many aspects of our life.

In the search for sustainable energy solutions, the idea of artificial photosynthesis has been proposed as an approach with which to use water and sunlight to produce hydrogen.

Koper

The main research theme in the group of Dennis Hetterscheid is to understand and mimic bioinorganic multi-electron processes that are relevant to our future energy infrastructure. Reduction of protons generates hydrogen that can be used as a chemical fuel. Alternatively to gaseous hydrogen, the reduction…

Hetterscheid

In this dissertation, the synthesis and characterization of a series of iron complexes based on different ligand platforms are described.