Research
Zeolites are crystalline, microporous materials often used in catalysis and of great industrial importance. The micropores (<2 nm diameter) are advantageous since they enhance shape selectivity, but disadvantageous as they can induce diffusion limitation.1 Diffusion limitation can be overcome by the formation of mesopores (20-50 nm) in the zeolites by commonly applied steaming, acid leaching and/or base leaching methods (Figure 1).2 The mechanism of the formation of zeolite mesopores by the above mentioned methods is, however, still poorly understood.
Zeolites are often used as support for metal particles, since the materials have high thermostability, they have relatively large surface area and they are very versatile concerning the amount and strength of acid sites. It has been shown that the location of metal particles on industrially used catalyst bodies, containing both zeolite and binder (γ-Al2O3), is of importance for the product distribution.3 The controlled deposition of these metal particles (on either zeolite or alumina component) was achieved by adjusting the pH of the metal precursor.3 It is clear that altering the pH during the metal deposition can have large effect on final catalyst morphology and consequently on catalyst performance.

Figure 1: Example of a steamed and acid leached zeolite Y crystal structure. Green areas indicate the zeolite crystal and lighter areas are representative for the obtained mesopores.2

Figure 2: Depiction of a flow cell used for LP-TEM measurements.4
Recently developed liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy (LP-TEM) provides unique opportunity to visualize, at nanometer scale, various processes that take place in liquid. LP-TEM measurements are performed in a specially designed TEM holder that hosts two Si chips with electron transparent SiN windows that form a so-called LP-TEM cell as depicted in Figure 2.4 The sample is placed on the Si chip, and a liquid can flow through the cell. The aim of this research is to monitor important steps in zeolite-based catalysts synthesis with in-situ LP-TEM, e.g. to elucidate the mechanism behind mesopore formation as well as the impact of the pH of the environment on metal deposition/dissolution. In addition to in-situ LP-TEM, other advanced microscopy techniques, such as tomography and FIB-sectioning, will be used.
[1] Ruthven, D. M. et al., Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal. 2001, 137, 525 – 577
[2] Zečević, J. et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 4213 – 4217
[3] Zečević, J. et al., Nature, 2015, 528, 245 – 248
[4] de Jonge, N. et al., Nature Nanotechnol., 2011, 6, 695 – 704
C.V.
2016 – Present
PhD research at the ‘Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis’ group at Utrecht University under supervision of Prof. Dr. Ir. K. P. de Jong and Dr. J. Zečević.
2016
Internship at the Paul Scherrer Institute and ETH Zürich under supervision of Prof. Dr. J. A. van Bokhoven and Dr. M. Ranocchiari.
2014 – 2016
Master degree in ‘Nanomaterials: Chemistry and Physics’ at Utrecht University
Thesis: Raman studies of α-Fe2O3 based thin-film photoanodes for water oxidation
2010 – 2014
Bachelor degree in ‘Chemistry’ at Utrecht University
Thesis: Stability of carbon supported copper catalysts in the methanol synthesis reaction
1992
Born in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Harmel, J; Wal, Van Der L I; Zečević, J; Jongh, De P E; Jong, De K P Influence of intimacy for metal-mesoporous solid acids catalysts for: N -alkanes hydro-conversion Journal Article Catalysis Science and Technology, 10 (7), pp. 2111-2119, 2020, (cited By 0). Links | BibTeX @article{Harmel20202111,
title = {Influence of intimacy for metal-mesoporous solid acids catalysts for: N -alkanes hydro-conversion},
author = {J Harmel and L I Van Der Wal and J Zečević and P E De Jongh and K P De Jong},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85083258883&doi=10.1039%2fc9cy02510c&partnerID=40&md5=b1d53b0adb59c2dbc4c7e9829970856e},
doi = {10.1039/c9cy02510c},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
journal = {Catalysis Science and Technology},
volume = {10},
number = {7},
pages = {2111-2119},
note = {cited By 0},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
|
Cheng, K; van der Wal, L I; Yoshida, H; Oenema, J; Harmel, J; Zhang, Z; Sunley, G; Zečević, J; de Jong, K P Impact of the Spatial Organization of Bifunctional Metal–Zeolite Catalysts on the Hydroisomerization of Light Alkanes Journal Article Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 59 (9), pp. 3592-3600, 2020, (cited By 1). Links | BibTeX @article{Cheng20203592,
title = {Impact of the Spatial Organization of Bifunctional Metal–Zeolite Catalysts on the Hydroisomerization of Light Alkanes},
author = {K Cheng and L I van der Wal and H Yoshida and J Oenema and J Harmel and Z Zhang and G Sunley and J Zečević and K P de Jong},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85078725136&doi=10.1002%2fanie.201915080&partnerID=40&md5=5eeff05916da88365cbed1e331b0aee2},
doi = {10.1002/anie.201915080},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
journal = {Angewandte Chemie - International Edition},
volume = {59},
number = {9},
pages = {3592-3600},
note = {cited By 1},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
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van der Wal, L I; de Jong, K P; Zečević, J The Origin of Metal Loading Heterogeneities in Pt/Zeolite Y Bifunctional Catalysts Journal Article ChemCatChem, 11 (16), pp. 4081-4088, 2019, (cited By 2). Links | BibTeX @article{vanderWal20194081,
title = {The Origin of Metal Loading Heterogeneities in Pt/Zeolite Y Bifunctional Catalysts},
author = {L I van der Wal and K P de Jong and J Zečević},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85066884160&doi=10.1002%2fcctc.201900441&partnerID=40&md5=1341378c20474338a535b28224c574b6},
doi = {10.1002/cctc.201900441},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
journal = {ChemCatChem},
volume = {11},
number = {16},
pages = {4081-4088},
note = {cited By 2},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
|
Pompe, C E; van Uunen, D L; van der Wal, L I; van der Hoeven, J E S; de Jong, K P; de Jongh, P E Stability of mesocellular foam supported copper catalysts for methanol synthesis Journal Article Catalysis Today, 334 , pp. 79-89, 2019, (cited By 0). Links | BibTeX @article{Pompe201979,
title = {Stability of mesocellular foam supported copper catalysts for methanol synthesis},
author = {C E Pompe and D L van Uunen and L I van der Wal and J E S van der Hoeven and K P de Jong and P E de Jongh},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85060917953&doi=10.1016%2fj.cattod.2019.01.053&partnerID=40&md5=d497f6670966efd0db8c65fa1beff58c},
doi = {10.1016/j.cattod.2019.01.053},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
journal = {Catalysis Today},
volume = {334},
pages = {79-89},
note = {cited By 0},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
|
Whiting, G T; Chung, S -H; Stosic, D; Chowdhury, A D; Wal, Van Der L I; Fu, D; Zecevic, J; Travert, A; Houben, K; Baldus, M; Weckhuysen, B M Multiscale Mechanistic Insights of Shaped Catalyst Body Formulations and Their Impact on Catalytic Properties Journal Article ACS Catalysis, 9 (6), pp. 4792-4803, 2019, (cited By 4). Links | BibTeX @article{Whiting20194792,
title = {Multiscale Mechanistic Insights of Shaped Catalyst Body Formulations and Their Impact on Catalytic Properties},
author = {G T Whiting and S -H Chung and D Stosic and A D Chowdhury and L I Van Der Wal and D Fu and J Zecevic and A Travert and K Houben and M Baldus and B M Weckhuysen},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85065517461&doi=10.1021%2facscatal.9b00151&partnerID=40&md5=4262f97fc027c0408ba38efbe6c993e6},
doi = {10.1021/acscatal.9b00151},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
journal = {ACS Catalysis},
volume = {9},
number = {6},
pages = {4792-4803},
note = {cited By 4},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
|
Berg, Van Den R; Prieto, G; Korpershoek, G; Wal, Van Der L I; Bunningen, Van A J; Lægsgaard-Jørgensen, S; Jongh, De P E; Jong, De K P Structure sensitivity of Cu and CuZn catalysts relevant to industrial methanol synthesis Journal Article Nature Communications, 7 , 2016, (cited By 29). Links | BibTeX @article{VanDenBerg2016c,
title = {Structure sensitivity of Cu and CuZn catalysts relevant to industrial methanol synthesis},
author = {R Van Den Berg and G Prieto and G Korpershoek and L I Van Der Wal and A J Van Bunningen and S Lægsgaard-Jørgensen and P E De Jongh and K P De Jong},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84990964700&doi=10.1038%2fncomms13057&partnerID=40&md5=168c2c1e54b7b59850cba2a206059dba},
doi = {10.1038/ncomms13057},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {Nature Communications},
volume = {7},
note = {cited By 29},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
|
Other publications
See earlier publications on Scopus.