Jovana Zečević - Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis

Research
C.V.
Publications

Research

Advanced electron microscopy for heterogeneous catalysts

Metal or metal oxide nanoparticles supported on oxide supports, are one of the most important catalysts in modern industrial processes. Catalyst performance depends on many factors including the size of metal nanoparticles and their spatial distribution, their interaction with a support and their location within the support’s external or internal micro-/meso- porous surfaces.

To obtain full control over the size and location of metal nanoparticles within the support is an ultimate goal in catalyst synthesis. As of recently, we have been developing methods to controllably deposit Pt nanoparticles onto either zeolite or alumina phase of industrially relevant zeolite-alumina extrudates. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and related techniques, such as electron tomography and EDX analysis, proved essential for such studies. With recent developments in microchip technology the possibility to extend TEM imaging from vacuum to liquid phase environment emerged. We are aiming to employ this new liquid-phase TEM technique to study at the nanometer length scale and in real-time synthesis of supported metal nanoparticles, as well as other relevant modifications of the catalysts that take place in a liquid environment.

C.V.

2014-present
Assistant professor at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis, Utrecht University.
Research topic: Advanced electron microscopy for heterogeneous catalysts.

2013-2014
Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis, Utrecht University, under the supervision of Prof.dr.ir. K. P. de Jong and Dr. P. E. de Jongh.
Research topic: In situ liquid-phase TEM studies of catalyst synthesis.

2009-2013
PhD researcher at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis, Utrecht University, under the supervision of Prof.dr.ir. K. P. de Jong and Dr. P. de Jongh.
Research topic: Structural study of (metal loaded) porous catalytic materials by electron tomography and other TEM-based techniques.
Thesis title: 3D Nanoscale Imaging and Quantitative Analysis of Zeolite Catalysts.

2008
(Jan-Sep) Master’s thesis research at TU Clausthal, Germany, under the supervision of Dr. Christos Argirusis and Dr. Rada Petrović. Subject of the research was “Synthesis of molybdenum oxide by sonochemical decomposition of molybdenum hexacarbonyl”.

2006 (Jul-Oct)
Internship via IAESTE program at the Institute of Metallurgy, Technical University of Clausthal, Germany.

2002-2008
Diploma in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology, University of Belgrade, Serbia.

Publications

Harmel, J; Wal, L I Van Der; Zečević, J; Jongh, P E De; Jong, K P De

Influence of intimacy for metal-mesoporous solid acids catalysts for: N -alkanes hydro-conversion Journal Article

In: Catalysis Science and Technology, vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 2111-2119, 2020, (cited By 0).