Synthesis of Catalysts & Energy Materials

Course goals

Content

In the definition by Berzelius about two centuries ago, a catalyst is a material that can accelerate a reaction without being involved in the reaction itself. About 90% of the industrial chemical and energy conversion processes uses heterogenous catalysts. Therefore, catalysts and related energy materials are crucial to sustainable environment. This lecture series will focus on the fundamentals and synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts and energy materials.
The first part of the course will deal with the synthesis and properties of the most important materials (such as carbon, metal oxides, zeolites, and MOFs) that are used as a support in heterogeneous catalysis, and for energy conversion and storage applications (batteries, fuel cells, gas storage, CO2 conversion, etc).
In the second part, methods for the synthesis of catalytically active metal nanoparticles on a support material will be presented in detail. Since nanometer scale structural features (micro- and mesoporosity of the support, particle size distribution, etc.) can have a huge impact on the performance of these materials, the lectures will also discuss characterization techniques that can unravel these structures. Using examples, it will be shown how sometimes small changes in synthesis routes can lead to significant changes in structure, and thereby the performance of these materials in catalysis and energy applications.