The Disputation will be live streamed for everyone else.
The livestream will be activated 15 minutes before the Defense starts.
Trial lecture
March 27th, 10:15 AM, Auditorium 3, Chemistry building
Trial lecture title: Origin and Applications of Volcano Plots in Catalysis
Kreeringssammendrag/Conferral summary
Denne avhandlingen undersøker hvordan CO₂ kan hydrogeneres til metanol, et viktig drivstoff og råstoff i kjemisk industri, ved hjelp av metall-pincerkomplekser. Ved å kombinere avansert beregningsmodellering med mikrokinetisk modellering avdekkes reaksjonsmekanismene, og det utvikles et prediktivt rammeverk for å designe mer bærekraftige katalysatorer basert på jordrike metaller. Resultatene bidrar til utviklingen av grønnere kjemiske prosesser for fremtidens energisystemer.
Main research findings
CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol is a promising carbon capture and utilization strategy that can reduce CO₂ emissions while producing sustainable liquid fuels. Methanol serves as an attractive liquid organic hydrogen carrier and an important industrial feedstock. However, the mechanistic origin of the high catalytic activity in amine-assisted systems remains unclear, limiting the rational design of earth-abundant metal catalysts for direct CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol.
This thesis addresses this challenge through three integrated studies. The first combines computational mechanistic investigations with microkinetic modeling to elucidate the mechanism of amine-assisted CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol. The predicted methanol production was validated against experimental data, enabling comparison of competing pathways and analysis of the influence of initial reactant concentrations. The second study demonstrates that a simple thermodynamic descriptor can serve as a rational design principle for selecting effective amine co-catalysts. It further shows that methanol can be produced under basic conditions using an earth-abundant manganese catalyst and identifies the key intermediate governing the reaction energy span and productivity. The third study integrates linear free-energy scaling relationships with energy-span analysis to construct a molecular volcano plot, enabling predictive screening of bifunctional pincer catalysts and identification of promising Fe- and Mn-based systems.
Candidate contact information
E-post: safym@uio.no
Tlf.: +47 94448618
Adjudication committee
Professor Natalie Fey
University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Professor Max Garcia-Melchor
CIC energiGUNE, Spain
Researcher Erik Ingemar Tellgren
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Norway
Supervisors
Senior researcher Ainara Nova Flores
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Norway
Professor Unni Olsbye
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Norway
Senior researcher David Balcells Badia
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Norway
Chair of defence
Professor Ola Nilsen
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Norway