The main objective of this PhD thesis is to link the atomic scale structure to the catalytic properties of self-assembled nanostructures. The growth and characterization of these nanostructures was carried out in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber initiall ...
Reflection–absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) is widely used to identify molecular adsorbates on metals during surface chemical reactions, but the interpretation of RAIRS data can be difficult with experiment alone. Here, we reveal from first-princip ...
A novel nanocomposite bead based on polymeric matrix of carboxymethyl cellulose and copper oxide-nickel oxide nanoparticles was synthesized, characterized, and applied for adsorptive removal of inorganic and organic contaminants at trace level of part per ...
The activation of small molecules is a paramount challenge in modern chemistry. The use of cheap and abundant molecules such as N2, H2, CO2, or CO as energy supplies or as precursors for fine chemicals production is highly desirable. In particular, the onl ...
The urgency of climate change demands the simultaneous removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the transition to renewable energy sources. This aim is realizable through electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR), which is a promising ro ...
Air pollution is a major environmental health risk and it contributes to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and excess mortality worldwide. The adverse health effects have been associated with the inhalation of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and indu ...
Diazoolefins tend to be highly reactive compounds that rapidly lose dinitrogen. So far, most experimental evidence for diazoolefins is indirect, via trapping experiments. Here we show that diazoolefins are observed to form in reactions of N-heterocyclic ol ...
Pincer ligated coordination complexes of base metals have shown remarkable catalytic activity for hydrogenation/dehydrogenation of CO2. The recently reported MeNCH2CH2(Pr-i(2))Co(I)PNP-pincer complex was shown to exhibit substantially higher catalytic ...
Large amounts of toxic metals are discharged into rivers and lakes, but little is known about the factors that drive the adsorption and transformation of these metals in the hyporheic zone and the exchange flux across the sediment-water interface. To bette ...
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are a class of porous materials that are applicable in many energy and environmentally relevant areas, due to their unique features including unprecedented internal surface areas and easy chemical tunability. Gas separation ...
The magnetic moment of rare earth elements originates from electrons in the partially filled 4f orbitals. Accessing this moment electrically by scanning tunneling spectroscopy is hampered by shielding of outerlying orbitals. Here, we show that we can detec ...
The activation of small molecule is a topic of high current interest. A variety of homogeneous end heterogeneous catalysts have been studied to be able to promote chemical transformation of industrial relevance under mild condition and therefore decrease t ...