MARVEL Distinguished Lecture — Jens K. Nørskov

It will take place on Thursday, February 18, 2021, 3 pm (CET), on Zoom:

https://epfl.zoom.us/j/86404994318

Passcode: 2618

Abstract

Catalysis for sustainable production of fuels and chemicals

The development of a sustainable energy system puts renewed focus on catalytic processes for energy conversion. We will need to find new catalysts for a number of processes if we are to successfully synthesize fuels and other chemicals from solar or wind electricity. Insight into the way the catalysts work at the molecular level may prove essential to speed up the discovery process. The lecture will outline a theory of heterogeneous catalysis that singles out the most important parameters determining catalytic activity and selectivity. I will use nitrogen reduction to ammonia as the main example and discuss the possibility to find sustainable alternatives to the well-known Haber-Bosch process.

About the speaker

Jens Nørskov received his PhD in physics from the University of Aarhus in 1979. After postdoc positions at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (Nordita), and Århus University and holding a staff position at Haldor Topsøe A/S he joined the Technical University of Denmark as a professor of physics in 1987. In 2010 he became the Leland T. Edwards Professor in the School of Engineering, Stanford University, and in 2018 he returned to the Technical University of Denmark as the Villum Kann Rasumussen professor. He is currently the chairman of the Danish National Research Foundation. His research aims at developing theoretical methods and concepts to understand and predict properties of materials focusing primarily on catalysis and sustainable energy solutions. He has received a number of awards, and holds honorary doctorates at the Technical University of Eindhoven, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and the Technical University of Munich. He is a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters, the Danish Academy of Engineering (ATV), Academia Europea, and a foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering.

Did you miss previous MARVEL Distinguished Lectures? You can watch them on the Materials Cloud dedicated page.