News
2024
Group photo at ELLETRA Synchrotron in Trieste (from left: Christian, Nicole, Maricruz, Stylianos, Sebastian, Adea, Noelia), and a selection of Italian food.
+++ 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, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster 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! www.cell.com/chem-catalysis/fulltext/S2667-1093(24)00317-8, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster
© SS
+++ 7.10.2024: Nicole and Stelios at the Österreichische Chemietage +++
Last week, Nicole and Stelios presented their work at the Österreichische Chemietage at the TU Graz. Stelios gave an interesting talk about self-heating iron-based catalysts for CO2 conversion to valuable chemicals, and Nicole presented a poster on her recent research on conversion of bio-derived alcohols to fuels. It was a nice gathering with many topics covered, and a good opportunity to explain our research to the Chemistry community in Austria.
+++ 7.8.2024: New paper in Journal of Catalysis +++
We published a new paper highlighting the interesting activity of cobalt ions in ZSM-5 zeolites: Cobalt ions positioned at channel intersections in proximity to zeolite Bronsted acid sites activate methane facilitating its reaction with benzene to toluene. A nice addition for the utilization of methane! Thanks to our collaborators at TU München and TotalEnergies, and to the TU Wien Bibliothek, öffnet in einem neuen Fenster for providing us with the opportunity to publish open access. You can read the paper here. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2024.115686, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster
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+++ 18.07.24: Maricruz held a lecture at EuChemS +++
Last week Maricruz attended the 9th EuChemS in Dublin, where she was invited to give a talk about Multifunctional materials for thermocatalytic CO2 conversion. She introduced our recent advances on Stelios’ self-heating catalysts to a broad chemistry audience. It was a nice conference, with a large representation from TU Wien, and a bit of a cool break from the hot Vienna summer!
© MS, NM
+++ 6.6.2024: Maricruz and Nicole on the Women's Run +++
Part of our team participated in the Frauenlauf (Women’s Run), which was held in Vienna’s iconic Prater park. Maricruz celebrated her 10 km run as part of the FemChem, öffnet eine externe URL team together with Frieda Kapsamer and Katharina Ehrmann, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster, and Nicole together with friends. Congrats!
© MSS
+++ 14.03.2024: Next round of Synchrotron experiments at ALBA +++
We successfully completed four rather exhausting days at the ALBA Synchrotron near Barcelona, collecting operando spectroscopy at the NOTOS beamline. Stelios seems to be quite happy with the exciting data from in-situ X-ray absorption and X-ray diffraction obtained for his Fe-based catalysts, but now he has to put in many more days into data analysis. Many thanks to Noelia Barrabes (head of the ClusCAT team) for guiding us and taking the night shifts together with Stelios, while Maricruz and Christian oversaw day shifts. Special thanks for Carlo Marini from ALBA for his extraordinary assistance with the experiments! After four days of hard work, we went for a Calçotada, a traditional Catalan dish involving grilled green onions being dunked in Romesco sauce (but NOT in Aioli, that is where Catalan people draw the line, apparently!) and eating it in a very peculiar position.
2023
© MSS
+++ 11.09.2023: Our group at Europacat 2023 in Prague +++
Maricruz Sanchez-Sanchez, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster, Mireia, Stelios, and Christian, had the opportunity to attend to the XVth Europacat conference in Prague. This bi-yearly conference unites researchers working with catalysis around Europe and the world, presenting their newest research in catalyst design and characterization, CO2 valorization, biomass utilization, electrocatalysis, and many more. Mireia Palma Cazorla, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster, Stylianos Spyroglou, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster, and Christian Schröder, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster all presented posters of their work on Monday’s poster session, which resulted in many discussions and new impulses for future investigations.
In total, there were more than 1800 participants, within them a good representation of TU Wien current and formerly affiliated researchers: the TUCAS group led by Christoph Rameshan, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster (now Montanuniversität Leoben), Karin Foettinger, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster’s Technical Catalysis group, the ClusCAT Lab nanocluster catalysis research group, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster by Noelia Barrabés Rabanal, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster, and Irina Delidovich, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster’s group. It was also great to enjoy some time together, seeing sights like the castle or the Charles bridge, and enjoying Prague via its beverages and food. In the end, it was a wonderful trip for all of us, and we are looking forward to the next Europacat in Trondheim in 2025. Na zdravi!
© MSS
+++ 7.8.2023: New Article published in JACS +++
Happy to see this work published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster, it has been a long journey! In collaboration with the groups of Evgeny Pidko, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster and Johannes Lercher, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster, we studied the structure of nanoscopic copper oxide clusters, hosted in zeolites, that are able to selectively convert methane into methanol. We obtained a quantitative description of the types of active metal-oxo clusters hosted in the microporous channels of highly active Cu-mordenite (CuMOR) materials. Theoretical assessment of the most stable structures, together with spectroscopic characterization, allowed the description at molecular level of two types of active clusters present in CuMOR materials, namely a monometallic Cu-oxo and a bimetallic Cu-(Al)-oxo cluster formed via reaction of exchanged Cu with extraframework Al.
This work shows how important is, for the activity of metal exchanged zeolite catalysts, the competition between different metal-oxo cationic structures, stoichiometries and locations within the framework. It also sheds light on the importance of reacting defects and extraframework Al species in zeolites. The results here will aid the synthesis of novel zeolite-based catalysts hosting metal-oxo ensembles with exceptional catalytic properties.
© Mojca Opresnik/FEZA
FEZA PhD prize
Svetlana Mintova (Präsidentin der FEZA) überreicht den Preis an Christian
+++ 26.7.2023: Christian gewinnt einen Preis für seine Dissertation +++
Unser Post-Doc Christian, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster erhielt den renommierten „Best PhD Prize“ im Rahmen der neunten Konferenz der Federation of European Zeolite Associations (FEZA), die vom 3.7 bis 6.7. in Portorož (Slowenien) stattfand. Der Preis wird alle drei Jahre für herausragende Publikationen, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster verliehen, die innerhalb von Doktoratsprojekten in der Zeolith-Forschung und anderer poröser Materialen entstanden sind. Diese hat Christian während und nach seinem Doktorat an der Universität Münster (Deutschland), unter Leitung von Hubert Koller, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster und Michael Hansen, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster, angefertigt. Seine Arbeit beinhaltet die Untersuchung aktiver katalytischer Zentren in Zeolithen, im Speziellen Brønsted-saure Zentren und Silanol-Defekte, mit Hilfe von Festkörper-NMR-Spektroskopie, um interne Wasserstoffbrückenbindungen (und somit wichtige katalytische Eigenschaften) aufzudecken. Wie auf FEZA-Konferenzen üblich, durfte er den allerletzten Vortrag der Konferenz halten. Christian war auch mit einem gut angenommenen Poster mit neueren Ergebnissen aus unserer Gruppe vertreten: Die Verbindung zwischen Metalloxiden und Zeolithen als bifunktionelle Tandem-Katalysatoren für CO2/CO-Hydrierungsreaktionen zu Olefinen. Glückwunsch!
Nachricht auf der Seite der FEZA, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster
© MSS
+++ 27.06.2023: Trip to the Heurigen +++
Joint Team Building with Noelia Barrabes, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster and her group: We had a blast in the Heurigen, drinking white wine, eating treats, and enjoying the view over Vienna. Which was bitterly needed after taking the allegeded shorter route uphill through the vineyards, though the weather was perfect for this trip. A Must-Do for the Viennese in summer!
© MSS
+++ 14.06.2023: Maricruz the "Invited Young Scientist" +++
Maricruz was the “Invited Young Scientist” at the recent 27th International Symposium on Chemical Reaction Engineering (ISCRE 27) in Quebec City (Canada). She delivered a talk on single site catalysts hosted by zeolites, while meeting and having inspiring discussions with other chemical engineers from all around the world. Surely an honor to be invited to such an important gathering!
© SS
Nicole und Stelios im ALBA
+++ 19.05.2023: Nicole and Stelios at ALBA +++
ALBA, round two: This time, Stelios and Nicole, together with Noelia Barrabés and her group, went to do some exciting (and exhausting) experiments at the ALBA synchrotron facility in Barcelona. So now there are a lot of EXAFS data to be analyzed back in Vienna.They also had a lot of fun eating calçots (Catalonian spring onions) like real Catalans.
© SS
Group photo May 2023
+++ 19.05.2023: Our group doubles in size +++
A whooping four new members joined the team in the span of two weeks: Nicole Müller is our newest PhD student and the first Austrian native on our floor. She will be doing research on transition metal-exchanged zeolites. José (from France) and Lilla (from Slovakia) are our new interns supervised by Christian and Stelios, respectively. Niko (from Austria) will be the first one to write a bachelor thesis under the supervision of Mireia. Welcome aboard!
+++ 03.03.2023: CADRE bei der 34. Deutsche Zeolith-Tagung +++
© Valerie Toussaint
CADRE at DZT Vienna
Maricruz und Christian besuchten die 34. Deutsche Zeolith-Tagung in Wien um ihre Zeolith-Forschung zu präsentieren (wer hätte das gedacht!). Maricruz' Plenarvortrag über "single-site transition metal catalysts hosted by zeolites" war sicherlich ein Highlight auf der Konferenz. Christian präsentierte frische Forschung über die Aktivität von Metalloxid/Zeolith-Katalysatoren als Poster, und am Rande, hielt einen Vortrag über seine Kernergebnisse aus der PhD-Zeit. Es gab viele nette Gespräche mit allen möglichen Leute aus der Community. Aufregend!
+++ 17.01.2023: Neues Paper in Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. +++
Mireia und Maricruz assistierten der Gruppe um Noelia Barrabés und schrieben an einer neuen Publikation mit: "Structural evolution after oxidative pretreatment and CO oxidation of Au nanoclusters with different ligand shell composition: a view on the Au core", wo Ergebnisse vom letzten Jahr am ALBA synchrotron vorgestellt werden. Der Artikel ist im Journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster erschienen. Glückwunsch an alle Autoren!
2022
+++ 20.12.2022: Erfolgreich Entkommen +++
© MSS
Escape room
Und noch eine Teambuilding-Maßnahme kurz vor Weihnachten: CADRE konnte erfolgreich das Rätsel um den verschwundenen Autoren Rex Stephens lösen, wenn auch nur mit wenigen Sekunden auf der Uhr übrig. Danke an Escape Mission für die tolle Escape Room Erfahrung!
+++ 11.10.2022: CADRE räumt ab! +++
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Großer Erfolg! Im ersten gemeinsamen Pub Quiz in Johnny's Pub hat das CADRE Team, unter dem Pseudonym "Too Much Pressure", den ersten Platz mit erstaunlichen 16 von 20 richtigen Antworten erreicht. Die Preisgutscheine wurden, natürlich, sofort in eine neue Runde Bier investiert. Cheers!
+++ 31.08.2022: Labore werden fertig +++
© CS
News_220831
Neues Katalyselabor
Das Warten lohnt sich! Renovierungsarbeiten sind fast abgeschlossen, und unser neues Katalyselabor am Technikum ist fertig für den Einzug (Infrarotlabor folgt in Kürze). Dann können wir endlich mit Hochdruck an unseren Katalysatoren forschen. Selbstverständlich Hochdruck CO, CO2 und H2.
+++ 18.07.2022: Arbeit am Synchrotron +++
© MSS
Im Juli haben Maricruz und Mireia, zusammen mit Dr. Noelia Barrabes vom Institut für Materialchemie, den ALBA Synchrotron in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Spanien) besucht. Sie messten Röntgenabsorption von Au, Cu, und Ni in Katalysatoren an der NOTOS beamline. Eine sehr ertragreiche Zeit mit mehr als 50 gemessenen Proben! Vielen Dank an Noelia, die ihr Wissen und Expertise mit uns teilt.