Research Activities
We focus on the synthesis and characterization of porous mixed metal oxides with targeted structure. We apply the prepared materials as heterogeneous catalysts.
Synthesis
Synthesis is performed mostly by non-aqueous methods (i.e., dry nitrogen and vacuum) leading to mixed metal oxides, silicates, and phosphates. Aluminum, zirconium, and copper are often embedded in our samples. We target high porosity and controlled metal coordination environment in the final materials by a proper choice of starting compounds and reaction conditions.
Characterization
We characterize our materials by a variety of methods with a special focus on physisorption techniques (N2, Ar, H2O), solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (SS NMR) and electron microscopy techniques (SEM, TEM, HR-TEM, STEM-EDS). SS NMR is supported by DFT calculations.
Heterogeneous catalysis
Our materials are applied as heterogeneous catalysts. At the moment we focus on two areas: (i) transformation of (bio)ethanol to value-added chemicals such as ethylene, acetaldehyde, and butadiene, and (ii) carbon dioxide conversion to cyclic carbonates.
