Girl's und Boy's Day

[25 April 2024] At the Girls's and Boy's Day 2024, many interested pupils had the opportunity to gain insights into the TRR 247 projects at the Chair of Theoretical Chemistry II at the Ruhr University Bochum.

57. Jahrestreffen Deutscher Katalytiker

[16 March 2024] The “57. Jahrestreffen Deutscher Katalytiker” took place in Weimar from 13-15 March 2024.

Our PhD candidates Akhil Hareendran (RUB), Jan Smyczek (CAU) and Pascal Fandré (MPI Kofo) participated in this conference, which is recognized as one of the most important European catalysis events. More than 400 experts from universities, research institutes and industry meet annually to present their research, exchange their ideas and share new developments and the latest results in all areas of catalysis.

Akhil’s poster on LaCoxFe1-xO3 Perovskites for the Selective Catalytic Oxidation of Cyclohexane to KA Oil in Liquid Phase was selected among the 5 best posters in the whole conference and was awarded jointly by DECHEMA and GeCatS! Congratulations!

Carl Duisberg Memorial Prize

[13 March 2024] Congratulations!

Congratulations to our TRR 247 member Prof. Corina Andronescu who received the Carl Duisberg Memorial Prize this year! With this award, the German Chemical Society honors Prof. Andronescu for her work in the field of technical chemistry. You can read the respective article on the UDE website in German or English. Congratulations!

New Member of the Leopoldina

[12 March 2024] Congratulations!

We are thrilled that our TRR 247 member Prof. Beatriz Roldán Cuenya has been elected to the Leopoldina (German National Academy of Sciences) in recognition of her scientific excellence and leadership strength. You can read the respective article on the FHI website in German or English.

Congratulations on this glorious recognition!

Annual Meeting 2024

[16 February 2024] From 14-16 February 2024 our TRR 247 Annual Meeting took place at the Kardinal Schulte Haus in Bergisch Gladbach. It was a very productive meeting with intense and fruitful discussions. Our PhD candidates presented in short talks the status of each project. We were also very excited that our Mercator Fellows Prof. Robert Schlögl, Prof. Iryna Zenyuk and Prof. Plamen Atanassov joint this event and contributed with their expertise and panel talks. Iryna and Plamen also joint our PhD network meeting at the first evening and made our AMA-(science related)Session very joyful.

PhD Network Meeting

[14 February 2024] During our TRR 247 Annual Meeting in Bergisch Gladbach, our PhD network meeting took place at the first evening on 14 February 2024. The Mercator Fellows Prof. Iryna Zenyuk and Prof. Plamen Atanassov joint this event in an AMA-(science related)Session. The second part of this meeting was all about the organizational issues of our UnOCat Summer School, which will take place 26-30 August 2024 in Flensburg.

UnOCat Electrochemistry Workshop

[13 February 2024] From 12-13 February 2024 our UnOCat Electrochemistry workshop took place at the Ruhr University Bochum. The workshop was organized and performed by the projects A01, A02 and A09. In lectures, the PhD candidates learned about Characterizing electrocatalytic activity by linear potential sweep methods (LSV, CV) and Characterizing electrocatalytic activity by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The theoretical knowledge was then deepened through lab work sessions. The day eneded with a joint dinner at Q-West. The second day focused on spectroscopy, including a visit to the spectroscope of the Schuhmann lab. Moreover, the electrocatalytic activity results were analyzed and discussed.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[24 December 2023] Dear all. We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and successful year 2024!

Path to Sustainable Hydrogen

[18 December 2023] Our PI Prof. Dr. Rossitza Pentcheva, PhD candidate Achim Füngerlings, and colleagues have investigated the crystal facet-dependent surface transformation and how this controls the activity of the oxygen evolution reaction. A phenomenon which is poorly understood – so far.

Read the entire press release here.

New Reaction Mechanism for Oxygen Gas Evolution

[02 November 2023] Our PI Prof. Dr. Kai S. Exner has implemented the principle of Walden inversion for the first time in the investigation of catalytic processes on solid surfaces. The focus of his investigations is the evolution of oxygen gas in electrolysers. This reaction determines the energy efficiency in the electrolysis of water, since the overvoltage for this anodic process is significantly larger than for the formation of gaseous hydrogen at the cathode. Read the entire press release here (in German).

Connecting Physicists Across Africa and the World

[19 September 2023] Dr. Stéphane Kenmoe, member of our CRC/TRR 247, is working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Born in Cameroon, he is actively involved in promoting African early career researchers and communicate popular scientific topics in an easily understandable way to the African community. Since 2022, Dr. Kenmoe is editor-in-chief of the African Physics Newsletter (APN), a quarterly online publication launched in 2019.

Poster Prize

[11 September 2023] Congratulations Adarsh!

Our PhD candidate Adarsh Koul (project A02) won the poster prize in the 74th annual conference of the International Society of Electrochemistry, which took place from 3-8 September 2023 in Lyon, France. The poster was entitled Ni-foam modified electrodes for epoxidation of cyclooctene. "We investigated Ni(OH)2 modified Ni-foam substrate for cycloctene epoxidation in different water:acetonitrile mixtures. We also investigated the effect of hydrophobicity by modifying the electrode surface with Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate. We could achieve a conversion of 40 % with a selectivity of above 90 % towards our desired product i.e. cyclooctene-oxide. The results will be published very soon."

New Member

[01 September 2023] Welcome, Prof. Dr. Behler!

We are very happy to welcome Prof. Dr. Behler (RUB) as a new PI in our consortium. Prof. Behler will work on "Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Oxidation Catalysis at Complex Interfaces". The goal of project A10 is the detailed atomistic understanding of the thermal oxidation of small alcohols in aqueous solution at Co₃O₄ surfaces.

Soft Skills Summer 2023

[26 June 2023] We are happy to announce our annual Soft Skills Summer 2023, taking place for the third time, This joint event is initiated by CRC/TRR 247, CRC 1242, CRC/TRR 270, 2D-Mature, CENIDE, SPP 1980, FOR 2284 and the team for Equal Opportunities of the Faculty of Physics at UDE. We would like to invite all female PhD candidates and postdocs to be a part of this event and to improve your soft skills.