Research
Research
The shift away from combustion-only car engines to hybrid cars results in much lower temperatures of the exhaust gasses, for which existing Platinum Group Metal (PGM) exhaust catalysts, such as the diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC), are not optimized. Umicore has recently developed new Pt-based catalysts promoted with post-transition metals, which are capable of lowering the CO oxidation temperature, even in the presence of other exhaust gasses such as hydrocarbons and water. The aim of this project is to gain understanding into the metal-promotor and metal-support interactions governing this reaction by developing and employing innovative in-situ and operando characterisation techniques based on X-ray, vibrational and luminescence spectroscopy, allowing the Pt-based catalyst to be tested under realistic DOC reaction conditions.
C.V.
C.V.
2020 – present
PhD candidate under prof. dr. ir. Bert Weckhuysen at the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis group, Utrecht University.
2020
Internship titled “Characterization of the Plasmonic Properties of Hafnium Nitride Single Nanoparticles on a Gold Mirror” at AMOLF in the Nanoscale Solar Cells group under the supervision of prof. dr. Erik Garnett and prof. dr. Andries Meijerink.
2018 – 2020
Master’s degree Nanomaterials Science at Utrecht University
Master thesis titled “Computational Studies on the Mechanism of Alkane Dehydrogenation on 2D layered TiS2 and the Electronic Structure of a Manganese Dimer” at the group of prof. dr. Mu-Hyun Baik, Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalizations, Institute for Basic Science and KAIST, South Korea.
2014-2017
Bachelor’s degree Chemistry at Utrecht University
Bachelor thesis titled “Ceria/Silica Thin-film Model Catalysts for Oxidative Catalysis of Cyclohexene to Adipic Acid” under the supervision of Laurens Mandemaker in the group of prof. dr. ir. Bert Weckhuysen, Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis, Utrecht University.