Archive for the ‘Journal News’ Category

In Celebration of the 22nd Brazilian Congress on Catalysis

The RSC is delighted to sponsor the 22nd Brazilian Congress on Catalysis, taking place on 25 -29 of September in Bento Gonçalves, Brazil!

 

In celebration of the return of this event in person, we are delighted to announce that a number of Catalysis Science & Technology themed issues will be free to read for all from September 25 – October 15!

Looking for even more catalysis content from the RSC?

To keep up to date with the latest catalysis research and other journal news, sign up to our e-alerts.

Meet the CS&T Editorial Board

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Catalysis Science & Technology Emerging Investigator- Stephanie Kwon

Stephanie Kwon is an Assistant Professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering department at Colorado School of Mines. Her research interest centres on heterogeneous catalysis and sustainability. She brings together cutting-edge research tools, including in-situ spectroscopy, microkinetic modeling, and density functional theory calculations, to understand surface reactions at a molecular-level. In doing so, she aims to tackle our current energy and environmental problems by providing novel catalytic systems with improved energy and atomic efficiency.

Her current research projects include CO2 conversion, low temperature H2O electrolysis for H2 production, biomass conversion (via aldol condensation catalysis), benzene alkylation, and alkene oxidation catalysis. Before joining CSM, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Find out more about Stephanie’s group on their webpage

Read Stephanie’s Emerging Investigator article ‘Theoretical assessments of Pd–PdO phase transformation and its impacts on H2O2 synthesis and decomposition pathways‘, DOI: 10.1039/D3CY00404J

1. How do you feel about Catalysis Science & Technology as a place to publish research on this topic?

We truly enjoyed the process. The editors were able to find us reviewers who provided us with useful comments. The turnover was quick and efficient, which we greatly appreciated.

 2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

I feel that now is a very interesting time to do research in heterogeneous catalysis.  We see lots of changes in the field with new emerging concepts and technologies, including the source of energies that we use to activate bonds in chemical conversions. Sustainability has become one of the major tasks within society, and we are part of those efforts. My research group is excited to contribute to those efforts and make changes in the way we do chemical transformations.

3. Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

I learned that academic careers are much more than research; it is more about teaching, mentoring, and writing. Knowing your own personality and priorities in your life can help you to decide your career paths. That being said, I encourage my students to have broader experiences in teaching, mentoring, writing, and presenting early on in their career. These “soft” skills, often neglected in grad schools, are sometime more important in becoming successful, especially in academia (but probably in other jobs too). 

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Catalysis Science & Technology Emerging Investigator- Matteo Cargnello

Matteo Cargnello received his Ph.D. in Nanotechnology in 2012 at the University of Trieste, Italy, under the supervision of Prof. Paolo Fornasiero. He was then a post-doctoral scholar in the Chemistry Department at the University of Pennsylvania with Prof. Christopher B. Murray before joining the Faculty at Stanford University in January 2015. He is currently Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and, by courtesy, of Materials Science and Engineering and Vance D. and Arlene C. Coffman Faculty Scholar. Dr. Cargnello is the recipient of several awards including the Sloan Fellowship in 2018, the Mitsui Chemicals Catalysis Science Award for Creative Work in 2020, and the Early Career Award in Catalysis from the ACS Catalysis Division in 2022.

The general goals of the research in the Cargnello Group pertain to solving energy and environmental challenges. The group focuses on capture and conversion of carbon dioxide, emission control and reduction of methane and hydrocarbon emissions in the atmosphere, sustainable chemical practices through electro- and photocatalysis, sustainable production of hydrogen, and chemical recycling of plastics.

Find out more about the Cargnello Group on their webpage

Read Matteo’s Emerging Investigator article ‘Understanding the geometric and basicity effects of organic polymer modifiers on Ru/TiO2 catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation to hydrocarbons‘, DOI: 10.1039/D2CY01596J

1.  How do you feel about Catalysis Science & Technology as a place to publish research on this topic?

Catalysis Science & Technology is a journal with the most exciting, deep fundamental and applied work in catalysis where it is possible to deeply learn about a catalytic process or phenomenon. I enjoyed publishing here our detailed work on fundamental structure-property relationships in hybrid catalysts, and I will continue to consider this journal as the prominent venue for careful and impactful catalysis work.

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

I am excited about the many possibilities that these hybrid systems can offer in directing selectivity in catalytic processes. We only just started learning about their properties for CO2 hydrogenation, and there are many other reactions and materials systems that we want to investigate. The space is large, so are the possibilities.

3. In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

How to control selectivity in catalytic transformations by tuning and controlling secondary interactions beyond adsorption binding strength on a specific active site. In other words, active site control beyond binding site.

4. Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Ask yourself the right questions, and spend most of your time refining the question rather than looking for the answer.

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Emerging Investigator Series – Siwei Li

Siwei Li obtained his PhD in physical chemistry under the guidance of Prof. Ma Ding from Peking University in China in 2019. He used to work in Harbin Institute Technology as an assistant professor and then became a professor in Xi’an Jiaotong University since Jan. 2022. He has studied and developed heterogeneous catalysts related to energy and environment, such as CO2 hydrogenation and electrocatalytic/photocatalytic water splitting. He is interested in tuning the coordination environment of atomically dispersed catalysts and clusters.

Read Siwei’s Emerging Investigator Series article, “Chitosan-derived carbon supported CoO combined with CdS facilitates visible light catalytic hydrogen evolution“, DOI 10.1039/D2CY01962K.

 

How do you feel about Catalysis Science & Technology as a place to publish research on this topic?

As influenced by Prof. Ma Ding, my advisor, I have liked CST since I was a PhD student. I think CST is a high-impact journal in the field of catalysis.

 

 

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Emerging Investigator Series – Peter Deuss

Peter Deuss completed his studies at the University of Amsterdam, NL and thereafter joined the group of Paul Kamer at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK as a PhD student working on bioinspired catalysis. He obtained his degree in 2011, moving on to work on bioconjugation technology development at the MRC UK, Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge in the group of Mike Gait. In 2013, he moved to the University of Groningen where, after post-doctoral work in the groups of Katalin Barta and Erik Heeres working on the catalytic conversion of renewable resources to chemicals, he started in 2016 as a tenure track assistant professor at the chemical engineering department of the Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen (ENTEG). He recently got promoted to Associate Professor Catalytic Processing of Sustainable Resources.

Read his open access Emerging Investigator article “Benign catalytic oxidation of potato starch using a homogeneous binuclear manganese catalyst and hydrogen peroxide“, DOI: 10.1039/D2CY01629J, and read more about his work in the interview below.

 

How do you feel about Catalysis Science & Technology as a place to publish research on this topic?

I consider Catalysis Science & Technology an excellent place for publishing catalysis research. It is a well-respected journal that includes a great mix of fundamental as well as applied catalysis research.

 

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

My biggest excitement comes from seeing young researchers grow into a topic and see them often surpass me on knowledge on specific aspects. Being part of this growth as a person and as a researcher brings a lot of satisfaction.

 

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

In relation to the catalysis for conversion of renewable resources, one of the key aspects is the integration of novel catalytic methodology into well established processes and how these should evolve to allow for fundamentally more sustainable and green chemistry to be implemented.

 

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Ensure you keep an interest in science beyond your field as it is at the interfaces that the most exciting and impactful developments take place.

 

Find out more about his research at the University of Groningen on twitter (@univgroningen) or Linked in.

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Emerging Investigator Series – Titel Jurca

Titel Jurca obtained his B.Sc. at the University of Ottawa where he was first introduced to catalysis research in Deryn Fogg’s group, and at the University of Windsor working for Doug Stephan on FLPs. He returned to the University of Ottawa for his Ph.D. with Darrin Richeson on group 13 coordination chemistry. In 2012 he joined Ian Manners at the University of Bristol as a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow to work on main-group polymers. In 2015 he returned to North America to work in Tobin Marks’ group at Northwestern University on projects ranging from inorganic coordination compounds, to atomic layer deposition and heterogeneous catalysis. In 2017 he began his independent career at the University of Central Florida. His group works at the intersection of small molecules and materials chemistry to create new catalyst systems

Read his Emerging Investigator article “Robust palladium catalysts on nickel foam for highly efficient hydrogenations” and read more about his work in the interview below:

 

How do you feel about Catalysis Science & Technology as a place to publish research on this topic?

Catalysis Science & Technology is the perfect venue for this type of work – spanning materials science to catalytic application. The journal has an excellent reputation in the catalysis community, a great diversity of published research spanning all areas relevant to catalysis, and a global reach.

 

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

Our goal is to discover and develop increasingly complex hierarchical catalyst systems based on monolith cores. By developing hierarchical systems we incorporate multiple components and begin to delineate their influence/contribution to the whole system and how that correlates to catalyst performance in terms of reusability, reactivity, and selectivity. This is very exciting because we have a great deal of components we can combine to create these new systems, with the possibility of discovering many new and exciting catalysts. The most challenging aspect is also figuring out exactly how all of these components interact. The other difficulty is characterization of monolith systems and delineation of reaction mechanisms.

 

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

Just in the past few years we have made great strides in better understanding catalyst-support relationships. As we work with increasingly more complex catalyst systems, we now need to understand how all of the components are influencing each other. Along those lines, we still need to better understand preparative route to catalyst property relationships, even starting out from molecular precursors – for example we use atomic layer deposition as part of catalyst design and we need to understand what the impact of molecular precursor choice is on the resulting catalyst performance. Finally, we should strive to enhance reproducibility, which has always been a difficult topic in heterogeneous catalysis.

 

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Your greatest legacy is the success of the people you mentor. Do your best to prioritize those that have taken a chance on joining your group.

Keep up to date with Titel and his research on his lab website.

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Catalysis Science & Technology Emerging Investigator- Yi-Hsuan Lai

Yi-Hsuan Lai grew up in Taiwan and obtained her BSc in Chemical Engineering from National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in 2007 and her MSc in Chemical Engineering from National Taiwan University in 2009. In 2011 she moved to the UK to pursue her PhD in solar water splitting in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Erwin Reisner. After receiving her PhD in 2015, she moved back to Taiwan and started her independent career in 2016 as an Assistant Professor at National Sun Yat-sen University. Since 2019, she has been an Assistant Professor at NCKU in the Materials Science and Engineering Department.

Her research interests include photoelectrochemistry, electrocatalysis, and sustainability. Her research group currently focuses on synthesising effective and robust materials and selective catalysts based on Earth-abundant elements for artificial photosynthesis and (photo)electrochemical organic waste valorisation.

Find out more about Yi-Hsuan’s research on her webpage

Read Yi-Hsuan Lai’s Emerging Investigator Series article, ‘Selective production of formate over a CuO electrocatalyst by electrochemical and photoelectrochemical biomass valorisation‘, DOI: 10.1039/D2CY00950A

1. How do you feel about Catalysis Science & Technology as a place to publish research on this topic?

Catalysis Science & Technology is a renowned journal with high standards in the field of catalysis. I am, therefore, very grateful to have the chance to engage in the Emerging Investigator Series of Catalysis Science & Technology.

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

Discovering a selective catalyst made of only earth-abundant elements for (photo)electrochemically organic waste valorisation and uncovering the corresponding mechanisms are the most exciting aspects of our work. We currently make more efforts on the rational design of earth-abundant electrocatalysts for achieving higher catalytic activity and stability.

3. Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Stay true to yourself and enjoy science despite obstacles and challenges.

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Introducing Catalysis Science & Technology’s new Editor-in-Chief Bert Weckhuysen

We are delighted to announce that Professor Bert Weckhuysen (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) has been appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief for Catalysis Science & Technology.

Bert Weckhuysen received his Master degree in Chemical & Agricultural Engineering from Leuven University (Belgium) in 1991. After obtaining his PhD degree in Catalysis from Leuven University in 1995 under the supervision of Prof. Robert Schoonheydt, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Israel Wachs at Lehigh University (USA) and Prof. Jack Lunsford at Texas A&M University (USA). Bert serves as the Distinguished University Professor in Catalysis, Energy & Sustainability at Utrecht University (The Netherlands) and was appointed as the first Distinguished Professor of the Faculty of Science at Utrecht University in 2012. He was a visiting professor at Leuven University (2000-2005), Stanford University & SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2013-2018), University College London (2014-2017) and ETH Zürich (2022).

The central research theme of the Weckhuysen group is the development of structure-activity relationships and expert systems in the field of heterogeneous catalysis and materials science with special emphasis on the development and use of advanced in situ characterization techniques.

“The rapid development of sustainability in chemistry, energy, and materials science ask for a flagship broad-scope interdisciplinary scientific journal in the field of catalysis that not only fosters fundamental science in the more traditional catalysis fields, but also brings in new, often somewhat more remotely developed methods, materials, and insights that not only inspire, but also continuously rejuvenate the catalysis field.

The introduction of such new developments, often achieved by interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary collaborations, keep catalysis a vibrant field for new scientific discoveries as well as technological breakthroughs, leading to practical in-house as well as large industrial applications.”– Bert Weckhuysen

 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our previous Editor-in-Chief Professor Javier Pérez-Ramírez for his service to the journal.

“The last 11 years on the Editorial Board of Catalysis Science & Technology, including 7 years as Associate Editor and 4 years as Editor-in-Chief, have been memorable. I have overseen the journal’s growth into a well-established, respected, diverse, and inclusive journal for practitioners to publish and follow exciting developments in the field of catalysis.

I am delighted that Bert Weckhuysen is taking over the role. Under the leadership of Bert and the editorial team, I am convinced that the journal will reach new heights.– Javier Pérez-Ramírez


Interested to find out more about Bert’s latest research? See his most recent papers published in Catalysis Science & Technology, all available to read Open Access for free:

Alumina binder effects on the hydrothermal stability of shaped zeolite-based catalyst bodies
Nikolaos Nikolopoulos, Abhijit Wickramasinghe, Gareth T. Whiting* and Bert M. Weckhuysen*

New insights into the NH3-selective catalytic reduction of NO over Cu-ZSM-5 as revealed by operando spectroscopy
Xinwei Ye, Ramon Oord, Matteo Monai, Joel E. Schmidt, Tiehong Chen, Florian Meirer and Bert M. Weckhuysen*

New insights into the biphasic “CO-free” Pauson–Khand cyclisation reaction through combined in situ spectroscopy and multiple linear regression modelling
Robert Geitner*, Tianbai Huang, Stephan Kupfer, Stefanie Gräfe, Florian Meirer and Bert M. Weckhuysen*

Early-stage particle fragmentation behavior of a commercial silica-supported metallocene catalyst
Silvia Zanoni, Nikolaos Nikolopoulos, Alexandre Welle, Aurélien Vantomme and Bert M. Weckhuysen*

Probing coke formation during the methanol-to-hydrocarbon reaction on zeolite ZSM-5 catalyst at the nanoscale using tip-enhanced fluorescence microscopy
Siiri Bienz, Sophie H. van Vreeswijk, Yashashwa Pandey, Giovanni Luca Bartolomeo, Bert M. Weckhuysen*, Renato Zenobi* and Naresh Kumar*

Read more of Bert’s RSC journal articles here.

 

Please join us in welcoming Bert as he leads the journal to continued success, as well as in thanking Javier for his many years of service and dedication to Catalysis Science & Technology.

To keep up to date with the latest catalysis research and other journal news, sign up to our e-alerts.

Meet the CS&T Editorial Board

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UKCC 2022: RSC Poster Prize Winners

 

 

Catalysis Science & Technology, alongside Reaction Chemistry & Engineering, Chemical Science, ChemComm & RSC Advances, were delighted to sponsor 5 Poster Prizes at The 8th UK Catalysis Conference

 

Poster Prize Winners

 

Catalysis Science & Technology

Shima Zainal, University of Manchester                              

“NMR relaxation studies of porous zirconium dioxide in the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of methyl levulinate with ethanol”

 

Reaction Chemistry & Engineering

Deema Khunda, University of Warwick 

“Microplasma–catalysis synergy in dry reforming of methanes”

 

Chemical Science

Gary Morrison, Almac Group   

“Continuous flow photooxidation of alkyl benzenes using ultra-fine bubbles for mass transfer enhancement”

 

ChemComm

Mariia Konstantinova, University of Sheffield

“Hydrothermal Catalytic Conversion of NaHCO3 with Glucose Reductant”

 

RSC Advances

Jaidene Parks, University of Bath

“Bismuth (III) complexes of maltol analogues and their application as antimicrobial ring-opening polymerisation catalysts”

 

Each winner was awarded a certificate and a RSC book voucher. Many congratulations again to our winners, and to all of the poster participants. We were proud to sponsor such excellent contributions and look forward to their future developments.

 

 

 

 

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Emerging Investigator Series – Matthieu Raynal

Matthieu Raynal got his PhD degree under the supervision of Dr P. Braunstein in 2009 (Strasbourg). He conducted postdoctoral studies at UPMC with L. Bouteiller (Paris) and in the group of Prof. P. W. N. M. van Leeuwen at ICIQ (Tarragona, Spain). In 2012, he was appointed as a CNRS researcher at Sorbonne Université, Paris. He is fascinated by how non-covalent interactions can be designed to control the outcome of a catalytic reaction, i.e. supramolecular catalysis. His group is currently developing supramolecular helical catalysts with particular efforts devoted to exalt their chirality amplification and switchable properties. His research activities also concern the design of functional chiral assemblies and the structure-property relationship of supramolecular polymers.

Read his Emerging Investigator article “Asymmetric hydroamination with far fewer chiral species than copper centers achieved by tuning the structure of supramolecular helical catalysts” and read more about his in the interview below:

How do you feel about Catalysis Science & Technology as a place to publish?

Catalysis Science & Technology is a renowned platform for scientific advances in the various fields of catalysis. I’m very pleased that my first article in Catalysis Science & Technology will be part of the 2021 Emerging Investigator Series. It will undoubtedly broaden the audience of our research topic which stands at the frontier between supramolecular chemistry and homogeneous catalysis

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

I’m fascinated by how non-covalent interactions can help to drive catalytic processes in the desired direction. I’m more specifically working with hydrogen-bonded supramolecular polymers, which possess particularly intriguing properties regarding their chiral and dynamic nature.  I consider that supramolecular catalysts, notably those operating through hydrogen bonds, are still in their infancy but that important applications for this class of catalysts may emerge in the future.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

One important question which is intimately related to the paper we published in the EMI is the emergence of homochirality in non-enantiopure systems. This is a fundamental question with implications in the understanding of the origin of biological homochirality. This can also lead to innovative asymmetric catalytic systems which operate with infinitesimal amounts of chiral species.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

I just want to express my support to all young academic researchers and new PIs who have been extremely impacted by the actual sanitary crisis.

Keep up to date with Matthieu and his research by following his Twitter @raynal_cnrs

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