Tuning Nanoparticles for Green Catalysis

ERC Grant


Kristina Tschulik is funded by the European Research Council.
© Photostudio-4ever

Krsitina Tschulik's team is studying individual nanoparticles. They are to become models for optimized catalysts.
In the search for alternatives for precious metal-based catalysts, the research team has considered nanoparticles based on transition metals. To be able to design them optimally, their catalytic activity must be analyzed as a function of their properties. This is the focus of the project "Microfluidic Tuning of Individual Nanoparticles to Understand and Improve Electrocatalysis", or Miticat for short, by Prof. Kristina Tschulik. The holder of the Chair of Analytical Chemistry II at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) is supported by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council.

Two identical particles are rare

Two obstacles currently stand in the way of the smart design of such catalytically active nanoparticles. First, almost all particles are slightly different. Measuring the activity of such a disparate ensemble yields an average value that says little or nothing about the best candidates. Secondly, the effects of additives are unknown, which are necessary for the currently common investigations of catalytic processes with such materials.

Kristina Tschulik and her team have already succeeded in studying individual nanoparticles without additives. "Nevertheless, we have not yet been able to derive a full relationship between properties and activity, because we have not been able to study the properties of the individual particles in solution during the catalytic process," explains the chemist.

Particles on the racetrack

In her ERC project, she is therefore sending several hundred nanoparticles onto the racetrack: they are to circulate in solution in a circle, with their properties and catalytic activity being measured at individual stations. Between the individual measurements, modifications can be made, for example to the size or surface properties of the particles. In this way, Tschulik hopes to draw conclusions as to which characteristics of the particles have a favorable effect on catalytic performance. "If we understand this, we can use this model to produce optimized nanoparticles," she explains.

Press contact
Prof. Dr. Kristina Tschulik
Chair of Analytical Chemistry II
Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Ruhr University Bochum
Phone: +49 234 32 29433
e-mail: nanoec@rub.de