Curriculum Vitae

I received my Master's Degree in Chemistry (2010) from Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia. One year later I was awarded a Ph.D. fellowship from the International NRW Graduate School of Chemistry and moved to the University of Münster, Germany to start my doctoral studies in the field of nanocarbon-inorganic hybrid materials for photocatalysis. Supported by the Ewald-Wicke Scholarship (2012), I had the opportunity to visit the group of Prof. K. Domen (University of Tokyo, Japan), which helped me to obtain my Ph.D. Degree in Physical Chemistry (2014) with Summa Cum Laude distinction. I then joined TU Wien, Austria as a PI and Area Leader of the Molecular Materials Chemistry group (2015) and was recently promoted to a tenure-track Assistant Professor (2023). I am now about to finish my habilitation degree in the area of photocatalysis for solar fuel generation.

To this end, I have published more than 45 papers (average impact factor above 10, most in high-impact journals incl. Nature Comm., Adv.Mat., EES, ACS Catalysis, Adv.Funct.Mat., Adv.En.Mat., Appl.Cat.B., JMCA, etc. incl. 4 high-profile reviews) and 2 book chapters.

I have given more than 20 oral, invited, and highlight talks at international conferences and also delivered a TED Talk, opens an external URL in a new window on artificial photosynthesis (2020).

CV - download, opens a file in a new window

My research interests revolve around materials chemistry and involve a variety of functional nanostructured inorganic materials including semiconductors, organic-inorganic hybrids, and ceramics as well as molecular compounds including clusters, transition metal complexes, and single-site catalysts relevant to a variety of energy-related applications. Throughout the years, I have developed expertise and experience with homogeneous and heterogeneous photocatalysts and I am now especially interested in designing hybrid photosystems that combine the advantages of both approaches.

My main research activities are closely related to the following projects of our research division:

Within the framework of a national Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Stand-Alone Project P32801 “Surface-Immobilized Molecular Chalcogen-based Metalate Clusters for Photocatalysis” (2020-2024), my team has been exploring all-inorganic clusters in light-driven catalytic applications, aiming to generate green hydrogen and other solar fuels. Two Ph.D. students (Samar Batool and Stephen N. Myakala) were fully funded for the period of the project. In addition, many other group members are involved as a part of their Master’s Thesis or Ph.D. work.

FWF Stand-Alone Project P32801 (PI)

“Surface-Immobilized Molecular Chalcogen-based MetalateClusters for Photocatalysis”

Timeline: 2020-2024

Budget: 378.966€

 

This research line will be continued and extended according to one of the first Clusters of Excellence projects supported by FWF. Two PhD and one post-doctoral positions are currently available. More information here, opens an external URL in a new window.

Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage (MECS)

Timeline: 2023-2028

Budget: 34.300.000€ (among 18 groups)

 

Apart from this, we have recently acquired our first FFG project according to the Take OFF program “H2 for aviation”. In here, we are exploring the large-scale implementation and commercialization of our heterogeneous photocatalytic systems.

FFG Take OFF project №902800 “H2 for aviation” (PI)

Timeline: 2023-2024

Budget: 49.000 €

 

Last but not least, we are currently a part of two OeAD S&T mobility projects that foster our cooperation with international partners:

AT-CN: The Study of Efficient Large Area Flexible Perovskite Solar Modules

Timeline: 2022-2025

Budget: 15.000€

 

AT-CZ: Versatile modified TiO2-based nanostructures for photo-induced H2 production coupled with microplastic degradation

Timeline: 2024-2025

Budget: 7.100€

“The list of my publications can be found on the google scholar, opens an external URL in a new window or ORCID, opens an external URL in a new window profiles, as well as on my publication list.

A few selected papers that are central to my research are listed below:

 

  • “Immobilization of a [CoIIICoII(H2O)W11O39]7– Polyoxoanion for the Photocatalytic Oxygen Evolution Reaction”, ACS Materials Au, 2022, just accepted [link]
  • “Surface-anchoring and active sites of [Mo3S13]2- clusters as co-catalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution”, ACS Catalysis, 2022, 12, 11, 6641–6650 [link]
  • “Selective ligand removal to improve accessibility of active sites in hierarchical MOFs for heterogeneous photocatalysis”, Nature Communications, 2022, 13 (1), 1-12 [link]
  • “Phosphate‐Templated Encapsulation of a {CoII4O4} Cubane in Germanotungstates as Carbon‐Free Homogeneous Water Oxidation Photocatalysts”, ChemSusChem, 2021, 14 (12), 2529 [link]
  • “Elucidating the formation and active state of Cu co-catalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution”, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2021, 9, 21958-21971 [link]
  • “Isolation strategy towards earth-abundant single-site co-catalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction”, Catalysts, 2021, 11 (4), 417 [link]
  • “Ti-based MOFs: New insights on the impact of ligand composition and hole scavengers on stability, charge separation and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution”, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2021, 283, 119626 [link]
  • “Polyoxometalates on Functional Substrates: Concepts, Synergies, and Future Perspectives”, Advanced Science, 2020, 7, 1903511 [link]

“Immobilization of Co, Mn, Ni and Fe oxide co-catalysts on TiO2 for photocatalytic water splitting reactions”, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2019, 7 (31), 18568-18579 [link, opens an external URL in a new window]

I have acquired various teaching experiences throughout the years at the TU Wien. My current position implies a rather heavy teaching involvement and a variety of courses which can be sub-divided into lectures (I take part as a sole- or co-lecturer) and labs (I take part as a supervisor, organizer, or student assistant):

 

period activity in the course
2019 until now Co-lecturer – 165.103 “Kinetics and Catalysis”
2018 - 2019

Organizer/Assistant – 164.289 “Advanced ceramics and electrochemistry”
2017 until now Lecturer – 165.093  “Molecule-based and self-assembled materials”
2016 - 2021 Co-lecturer – 165.140 “Physicochemical Methods of Materials Characterization”
2016 until now

Supervisor/Assistant – 163.145 “Synthesis Laboratory Course”
2016 until now Co-lecturer – 163.177 “Fundamentals of Chemistry”

Ph.D. students*

  • Pablo Ayala (11.2020 – ongoing) – University Assistant
  • Samar Batool (06.2020 – ongoing) – Project Assistant (FWF)
  • Stephen N. Myakala (06.2020 – ongoing) – Project Assistant (FWF)
  • Hanane Boumeriame (02.2020 – 08.2020) – visiting Ph.D. from the University of Porto, Portugal (group of Prof. J. Faria) via Ernst Mach Grant
  • Jasmin S. Schubert (2019 – ongoing) – University Assistant
  • Kamonchanook Roongraung (02.2018 – 08.2018) – visiting Ph.D. from the King Mongkut's University of Technology, Thailand (group of Prof. S. Chuangchote)
  • Sreejith P. Nandan (2017 – ongoing) – University and Project Assistant, holder of the Christiane Hörbiger Award

* All Ph.D. students are co-supervised by Prof. D. Eder

Master students*

Bachelor students*

  • Alois Rottensteiner (07.2020 – 09.2020)
    Thesis title “Synthesis of Titanium-based Metal-Organic Frameworks and Investigation of their Use as Dark Photocatalytic Systems for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction”
  • Matthias Preidl (07.2019 – 08.2019)
    Thesis title “Investigating cobalt-based polyoxometalates in photocatalytic systems for the water oxidation reaction”
    This project contributed to the publication in ChemSusChem.
  • Andreas Lechner (05.2018 – 09.2019)
    Thesis title “Study on influential factors in the synthesis of copper co-catalyst assisted TiO2 based photocatalysts for H2 generation by sacrificial water splitting”
    This project led us to a publication in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

*All Phd-, Master- and Bacherlorthesis are supervised by Prof. Eder and co-supervised by me.

Internship students

  • Samuel Lukas Hartmann (2022) “Development of MXenes as co-catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction”
  • Magdalena Ladisch (2022) “COK-47 and platinum as a catalyst for photocatalytic water splitting – experiments on cocatalyst concentration and sacrificial agents”
  • Lisa Grötzl (2022) “MOF-assisted photocatalytic H2 generation: Synergy of COK-47 and thiomolybdate”
  • Simon Eder (2021) “Metal-organic frameworks impregnated with thiomolybdate [Mo3S13]2- clusters for photocatalytic hydrogen-evolution reaction”
  • Filip Šmatlo (2021-2022, Erasmus +)
  • Adrian Ertl (2021) “Zr- and Ti-based MOFs for hydrogen evolution: ligand composition and impregnation of thiomolybdate clusters”
  • Madeline Weisweiller (2021) “Synthesis of titania-based photocatalysts by applying single site isolation strategy”
  • Elias Lagger, Nick Parak and Valentina Salbrechter (summer internship 2021)
  • Veronika Zeller (2021) “Characterization of Na2Mo3S­ clusters using (LA-)ICP-MS” (in cooperation with Andreas Limbeck)
  • Jim Cloos (2021) “Catalytic hydrogen evolution activity of different photocatalysts”
  • Ana Zilic (2021) “Synthesis of Au25/Pd1Au24 clusters and their photocatalytic activity” (in cooperation with Noelia Barrabes)
  • Michael Ketter (2021)
  • Alireza Emami (2020) “Synthetic strategies towards single-site photocatalysis:”
  • Quynh Nguyen (2020) “Attachment of polyoxometalates on TiO2 for optimization of photocatalytic properties in oxygen evolution reaction”
  • Glatzl Stefan (2020) “A guideline to construct a Mott-Schottky plot, flat band potential measurements and a calculated density of states of metal-organic frameworks”
  • Manuel Holzmann (2019) “Fabrication of MOF-based photoelectrodes”
  • Kristina Hofer (2019) “CNT-TiO2 nanocarbon-inorganic hybrids”
  • Christoph Riedl (2018) “Towards reaction kinetics of PTMs with TiO2 nanoparticles”
  • Max Kolbinger (2018) “Quantification of hydrogen evolution reaction”
  • Janko Popovic (2018) “Decoration of TiO2 with non-noble-metal-based co-catalysts”
  • Antony Litovoilis (2018) “Photocatalytic deactivation in mixed-phase TiO2”
  • Ayala Pablo (2018) “Conversion of Cu-containing MIL-125 into active inorganic photocatalysts”
  • Amy Zhongyu Ho (2018) “Towards in situ dye-sensitized photocatalysis”