Materials Chemistry and Catalysis

Studying the alkali promotion of Cu catalysts for selective CO2 hydrogenation

---

The conversion of CO₂ into value-added chemicals, such as synthesis gas, is a promising strategy in opening routes for the synthesis of low-carbon fuels. This conversion of CO₂ incorporates the reverse water gas shift (rWGS) reaction in which CO₂ reacts with H2 to form CO and H₂O [1]. Recently it was shown that promoting the Cu catalyst with alkali metals, such as K and Na, resulted in CO₂ hydrogenation to be selective towards CO [2]. However, the interactions between Cu and the promoter are not well understood.

My research focusses on understanding the interactions at play during the rWGS reaction on alkali promoted Cu and why the promotion results in the selective hydrogenation observed. To this end, a combination of computational methods, like density functional theory (DFT) and micro-kinetic modelling (MKM) [3], and experimental methods are employed. The combination of experimental and computational methods allows for the experiments to provide information for the creation and validation of computational models under reaction conditions [4,5].

If you are interested in my research for your thesis, please do not hesitate to contact me!

References

---

1.          Y.A. Daza, J.N. Kuhn, RSC Advances 2016, 6, 49675-49691

2.          L. Barberis, C. Versteeg, J.D. Meeldijk, J.A. Stewart, B.D. Vandegehuchte, P.E. de Jongh, ACS Catalysis 2024, 14, 9188-9197.

3.          A. Bruix, J.T. Margraf, M. Andersen, K. Reuter, Nature Catalysis 2019, 2, 659-670

4.          S. Hammes-Schiffer, G. Galli, Nature Energy 2021, 6, 700-705

5.          B.L. de Oliveira Campos, K.H. Delgado, S. wild, F. Studt, et al., Reaction Chemistry & Engineering 2021, 6, 868-887

C.V.

---

2024 – Present

PhD candidate in the Materials Chemistry and Catalysis group, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, under supervision of Prof. Petra de Jongh and Dr. Nong Artrith.

2022-2024

Master’s degree in Nanomaterials Science at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Master thesis in the Materials Chemistry and Catalysis group at Utrecht University: “Composition and activity of CuAu/Pt core/shell electrocatalytic nanoalloys using first-principles calculations and machine learning” under supervision of Dr. Nong Artrith.

Research internship on open-source crystal structure generation and optimisation workflows at Bayer AG in Wuppertal, Germany. Supervised by Dr. Tobias Morawietz.

2016-2023

Bachelor’s degree in chemistry and Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Bachelor thesis in the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis group at Utrecht University: “Precursor decomposition processes during the calcination of Si supported bimetallic Ni-Pd catalysts” under supervision of Florian Zand and Dr. Matteo Monai.