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We are a research group established in 2021 at TU Wien working on the intersection of the fields of catalysis and chemical engineering. Our research focuses on the development of novel catalytic materials and reactors for the sustainable production of chemicals. Our main objective is to generate new strategies in thermal catalysis, encompassing the catalyst nanostructure, the reaction conditions and reactor design, to overcome the current limitations of implementation of sustainable processes.

In a circular economy, reactors and catalysts must be capable to adapt to changing feedstock and reaction conditions while keeping optimal activity and selectivity to key products. We investigate the properties and performance of multifunctional catalysts based on the combination of metal oxides, acid zeolites and metal ions hosted in zeolites.

Activity and selectivity of the materials in relationship with the relevant steps of catalytic mechanisms are evaluated by catalytic tests at lab-scale reactors and temperature-programmed surface reactions. In situ and operando spectroscopies allow monitoring the dynamics of active surfaces and their response to changing chemical potentials.

News

Group photo and typical food options

+++ 21.11.2024: Synchrotron Trip to Trieste +++

Recently, the whole team went to ELLETRA synchrotron in Trieste, Italy, for operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements of self-heating catalysts. We had a whole six days and nights of work, fun, excitement and some broken capillaries. Noelia Barrabes, opens an external URL in a new window and two students of her team, Adea Loxha and Sebastian Mößlacher, helped us to fulfill our ambitious work plan to the end, thanks! Very special thanks also for Giovanni Agostini from ELLETRA, who showed us the ropes with the spectra acquisition and supported us even in unreasonable hours. Of course, we capitalized on being at the Italian seafront, so it was seafood restaurants almost every day of the trip. Except for a pile of cevapcici when driving through Slovenia.

+++ 14.10.2024: New Perspective article in Chem Catalysis +++

Our new Perspective article is published in Chem Catalysis! We examine transition metal ions hosted in zeolites for catalytic applications, dive into under-discussed effects on their speciation, and look for future research directions. Thanks to the TU Wien Bibliothek for enabling us to publish open access! https://www.cell.com/chem-catalysis/fulltext/S2667-1093(24)00317-8, opens an external URL in a new window