Invitation to Cluster’s 3 Excellence Chemistry Lecture titled: Utilization of CO2 using nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts

We warmly invite you to attend the next lecture from Cluster 3 in the "Excellent Chemistry Lecture Series."

Speaker: Prof. Søren Kegnæs, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Department of Chemistry

Title: “Utilization of CO2 using nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts”

Date and Time: 10:00 AM, Friday December 13, 2024

Location: IChF Aula, Warsaw

Below, you will find the abstract and a biography of the speaker.

Abstract:

The catalytic activity and selectivity of heterogeneous catalysts are strong depend on their morphology and structure. Despite the great technological, environmental, and economic interests, general methods for activating and utilizing CO2 need to be developed more. The talk will cover our recent progress in synthesizing nanostructured materials, their characterization, and their application. The materials have been applied as heterogeneous catalysts for the utilization of CO2 into fuels and chemicals. Several different catalytic systems were developed where various types of metal nanoparticles are incorporated into different types of porous and nanostructured materials. The methods aim to be cost-effective and practical and resulting in a narrow distribution of small uniform nanoparticles. More importantly, the catalysts show high activity and selectivity in various reactions. We present the progress that has been made in the synthesis in various ways and their characterization using different techniques. We have especially focused on novel materials with high catalytic selectivity for hydrogenation of CO2 into CO, CH4, methanol, and ethanol, respectively.

Speaker’s bio:

Professor Søren Kegnæs’ primary scientific field of interest is within the design of functional nanomaterials, their characterisation and application in heterogeneous catalysis with a specific focus on the synthesis of functional nanoparticles and high surface area materials with controlled porosity.

In the view of Søren Kegnæs one of the most attractive areas of the potential future development is related to the green chemistry due to a number of environmental and economic challenges. It is also an opportunity in the next decade to develop a more green chemical industry by implementing new, highly active catalysts resulting in increased product yield and, therefore, lowered process costs. Therefore, one of the keys to successful science and great discoveries is the collaboration with industry with a focus on understanding of their wishes and needs and the collaboration with other international research groups in the areas of the material development containing metal nanoparticles and their application in heterogeneous catalysis such as e.g. CO oxidation, selective organic reactions for fine and bulk chemicals and biomass conversion.

In his group, the emphasis is placed on the cohesion of the synthesis skills with extensive understanding of heterogeneous catalysis, therefore the obtained materials are optimally adapted to the target applications in heterogeneous catalysis. Furthermore, these investigations are supported by comprehensive experience in characterisation of heterogeneous catalysts, especially within the techniques related to the advanced electron microscopy.

More information about the speaker's research activities can be found here: https://www.kemi.dtu.dk/english/research/inorganic-chemistry/center-for-katalyse-og-baeredygtig-kemi/sorenkegnaes/profile.