Applied Catalysis and Spectroscopy group

The Applied Catalysis and Spectroscopy group (ACS) is part of the Bioenergy and Catalysis Laboratory (LBK) in the Energy and Environment Research Division (ENE) and of the Center for Operando Spectroscopy Studies at PSI.

Our research focuses on environmental catalysis, catalysis for energy conversion processes and operando spectroscopy. See some of our activities in the flyer of ENE. We are regular users of the Swiss Light Source (SLS) and of the Electron Microscopy Facility at PSI (EMF).

12 September 2023

• We are looking for a highly motivated student to join the group for a PhD project in advanced operando spectroscopy. See the advert here.

8 September 2023

• Second award in two weeks! Today Ilia received the best poster award at the Annual Meeting of the Swiss Society for Christallography in Zurich for his work on combined XRD and ATR-IR work of MOF synthesis. Congratulations!

24-29 August 2023

• ACS was well represented at Europacat 2023 with 2 oral contributions and 3 posters.

25 August 2023

• Federico has received the runners-up poster award at the Fall Meeting of the Swiss Chemical Society in Bern in the Physical Chemistry session (sponsored by DSM-Firmenich) for his NIR spectroscopy work. Congratulations!

1 June 2023

• The work of Maneka in Chem. Sci. on the first modulated excitation XPS experiments on Pd/Al₂O₃ is included in the themed collection 2023 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection.

7 May 2023

• We were happily starting at Operando VII in Grindelwald.

15 November 2022

• Abstract submission for the 7^th International Congress on Operando Spectroscopy - Operando VII closed today. Please, consult the official webpage for further information.

15 September 2022

• Abstract submission for the 7^th International Congress on Operando Spectroscopy - Operando VII is now open! Consult the official webpage.

31 August 2022

• Congratulations to Maneka for her keynote presentation at CAPoC12 in Bruxelles.

1 June 2022

• We are proud of our new instrument IRis-F1, a dual comb spectrometer of IRsweep enabling microsecond time resolution in the IR. It came with two laser modules. Thank you to Raphael for installation and training.

7 May 2022

• We successfully run the 47^th SOLA relay race around Zurich. Thank you to all the team!

8 Dec 2021

• The work of Miren on aging of DOC is published in the ENE highlights.

19 Jul 2021

• Congratulations to Thibault for the cover image of his publication in J. Phys. Chem. C.

21 Apr 2021

• Rob did a fantastic job to represent us at the Swiss-Korean Science Club organized by the Science and Technology Office of the Swiss embassy in Seoul. The presentations are available online.

Feb 2021

• The SynFuels initiative of PSI and Empa has been launched and we are happy to be involved in some projects.

Feb 2021

• Our work on the the stability of Pd-LaFeO₃ in aqueous ethanol has been included in the ESRF Highlights 2020.

9 Jun 2020

• Our paper 'CuO/La_0.5Sr_0.5CoO₃: precursor of efficient NO reduction catalyst studied by operando high energy X-ray diffraction under three-way catalytic conditions' was selected by PCCP Editors for the 2020 PCCP HOT Articles. Read it here.

16 Mar 2020

• Unfortunately, due to the current COVID-19 situation we are on home office.

5 Feb 2020

• We appeared on the PSI magazine 5232 for our research activities with synchrotron based methods.

29 Jan 2020

• The first flyer of the 7^th International Congress on Operando Spectroscopy - Operando VII has been distributed at the GeCat Infoday operando spectroscopy in catalysis - Time to implement this methodology in industry. Operando VII is now online!

1 Nov 2019

• Today, we changed the group name to Applied Catalysis and Spectroscopy!

31 Oct 2019

• Adrian was awarded the PSI-Impuls-Preis for his PhD thesis entitled 'Advances in Vanadium-based catalyst research for the selective catalytic reduction of NO_x by NH₃'. Congratulations!

30 Oct 2019

• Matteo receives a poster prize at the PSI Condensed Matter Retreat in Brugg for his ATR-IR study. Congrats!

20 Jun 2019

• The paper of Rob has made it in ACS Catalysis. This is our first publication on Raman spectroscopy.

27 Feb 2019

• Our activity on operando spectroscopy of NH₃-SCR finds space in GIT Laboratory Journal.

9 Jan 2019

• The paper of Patrick 'Stable Ni particles through structural reversibility in La-Fe-Ni perovskite type metal oxide catalysts' received the attention of Advances in Engineering.   

2 Nov 2018

• Adrian receives a Doctoral Program Thesis Distinction from EPFL for his PhD thesis. Congratulations!

27 Apr 2018

• The work of Andrey on Pd exchanged zeolites for methane lean oxidation has been accepted for publication in Nature Communications.

8 Mar 2018

• Our first paper ever in Nature journals appeared in Nature Catalysis. Our good colleagues Feng and Janos wrote a News & Views article about it. The publication was also mentioned in the Swiss Science Concentrates of Chimia.

End 2017

• Our paper 'Methane oxidation over a honeycomb Pd-only three-way catalyst under static and periodic operation' appearing in Applied Catalysis B has been reviewed on Dieselnet.

11 Oct 2017

• Our paper 'Genesis of a Co–salicylaldimine complex on silica followed in situ by FTIR and XAS' has been awarded a cover picture in ChemPhysChem. doi:10.1002/cphc.201701076.

23 Aug 2017

• Andrey has received the second best oral presentation award in the session Catalysis Science & Engineering at the Fall Meeting 2017 of the Swiss Chemical Society held in Bern, 21-22 August 2017. Congratulations!

24 Aug 2016

• Our Angewandte Chemie paper on the active sites for NH₃-SCR on a V-W-TiO2 catalyst is out! You will find it here.

18 Oct 2015

• We have a stand at the day of open doors of PSI. See us in action here.

10 Aug 2015

• We congratulate Manasa for her second best poster award at the Catalysis Fundamentals and Practice Summer School held in Liverpool (UK), 20-24 July 2015.

1 Jun 2015

• The 2014 Annual Activity Report of the Competence Centre for Materials Science and Technology (CCMX) reports on our recent developments in the design of tools to determine structure-activity relationships of functional materials. http://www.ccmx.ch/ccmx/annual-reports/

11 Sep 2014

• Katarzyna Michalow-Mauke has received a poster award at the Fall Meeting 2014 of the Swiss Chemical Society (session Catalysis Science and Engineering) held at University of Zurich. Title: 'WO₃/Ce_xTi_1-xO₂ nano-catalyst prepared by one-step flame spray synthesis for NOx reduction in the NH₃-SCR'. Congratulations!

25 Aug 2014

• Our article in Catalysis Science & Technology is illustrated by the cover of the September 2014 issue:

• Y. Lu, S. Keav, V. Marchionni, G.L. Chiarello, A. Pappacena, M. Di Michiel, M.A. Newton, A. Weidenkaff, D. Ferri, Ageing induced improvement of methane oxidation activity of Pd/YFeO₃, Catal. Sci. Technol. 2014, 4, 2687. doi: 10.1039/C4CY00289J

12 Mar 2013

• Our article in Catalysis Science & Technology is illustrated by the cover of the April 2013 issue:

• A.M. Bernhard, D. Peitz, M. Elsener, T. Schildhauer, O. Kröcher, Catalytic urea hydrolysis in the selective catalytic reduction of NO_x: Catalyst screening and kinetics on anatase TiO₂ and ZrO₂, Catal. Sci. Technol. 2013, 3(4), 942-951. doi:10.1039/C2CY20668D