Project Details
SFB 1452: Catalysis at Liquid Interfaces (CLINT)
Subject Area
Thermal Engineering/Process Engineering
Chemistry
Materials Science and Engineering
Physics
Chemistry
Materials Science and Engineering
Physics
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 431791331
This CRC, Catalysis at Liquid Interfaces (CLINT), will follow a new paradigm: We aim to explore the highly dynamic, anisotropic environment of liquid interfaces to create, tailor and stabilise catalytically active sites with unique reactivity and performance. With this concept, we aim to develop novel catalytic materials that combine selectivity, productivity, robustness, and ease of processing at the highest level. CLINT consists of four strongly interlinked research areas (A, B, C, and M). All approaches centre on solid-supported liquids of ultralow vapour pressure to enable stable catalytic performance in continuous gas-phase reactions. Area A ‘SCALMS’ deals with the dynamic formation of supported liquid alloy interfaces in the presence of reactive gases, representing a new, technically relevant route toward heterogeneous single-atom catalysts. The concept of ‘Supported Catalytically Active Liquid Metal Solutions (SCALMS)’, established recently by four PIs jointly, will be explored systematically towards optimised materials properties and enhanced performance. We aim to develop SCALMS into a fundamentally understood and scalable approach for new catalytic materials with highest reactivity, metal efficiency and ultimate robustness. Area B ‘Interface-enhanced SILP’ focusses on dissolved molecular catalyst complexes that show a very high preference to be located at the interfaces of ‘Supported Ionic Liquid Phase (SILP)’ systems. The interface affinity should be a function of the applied ligands, support chemistry, ionic liquid, and gas phase. Our research target is to elucidate and exploit the specific reactivity located at both, the gas/liquid and the liquid/solid interface. Area C ‘Advanced SCILL’ deals with dynamic interactions at the reactive interfaces between ionic liquids and catalytically active metals. We aim to radically expand the powerful approach of ‘Solid Catalysts with Ionic Liquid Layer (SCILL)’ for the manipulation of traditional supported catalysts by using novel functionalised ILs and by applying the concept to novel (electro)catalytic transformations. The areas A, B, and C are tightly interlinked by the overarching research aspects of wetting, selective molecular interaction or adsorption, diffusion and mobility, segregation and enrichment, ligand and ensemble effects, and the anisotropy of reactive environments at the interface. To bridge between a detailed understanding of these aspects and the development of new catalyst materials, each area will link fundamental studies on model systems with kinetic investigations using real catalysts. Area M ‘Modelling and simulation’ addresses these joint aspects by theoretical studies elucidating, e.g. the electronic structure of complex liquid interfaces, the distributions of active sites, or the dynamics of self-organisation and structure formation at the interface. In this way, we will seek to develop a comprehensive approach to the new concept of catalysis at liquid interfaces.
DFG Programme
Collaborative Research Centres
Current projects
- A01 - Characterising the active site in liquid metal catalysts (Project Heads Bär, Marcus ; Papp, Christian )
- A02 - Picosecond dynamics of liquid metal catalysts in confinement (Project Head Unruh, Tobias )
- A03 - Scale-bridging tomography and in situ microscopy of SCALMS (Project Heads Felfer, Ph.D., Peter ; Spiecker, Erdmann )
- A04 - Tuneable supports and geometry effects in SCALMS catalysis (Project Head Bachmann, Ph.D., Julien )
- A05 - Textural Properties and wetting behaviour of new SCALMS (Project Head Thommes, Matthias )
- A06 - Enhancing poisoning resistance and catalyst stability in dehydrogenation reactions through SCALMS (Project Heads Papp, Christian ; Wasserscheid, Peter )
- B01 - Task-specific ionic liquids and their Group 10 metal coordination complexes for Interface-enhanced catalysis (Project Head Meyer, Karsten )
- B02 - Functionalised metal complexes for tuning their surface enrichment and reactivity at ionic liquid interfaces (Project Head Ivanovic-Burmazovic, Ivana )
- B03 - Support design for enhanced catalytic activity of SILP systems (Project Heads Hartmann, Martin ; Inayat, Alexandra ; Vogel, Nicolas )
- B04 - Properties of the gas/liquid interface of Interface-enhanced SILP systems (Project Heads Koller, Thomas Manfred ; Steinrück, Hans-Peter )
- B05 - Solid-state NMR investigations of SILP-based catalysts (Project Head Hartmann, Martin )
- B06 - Influencing SILP catalyst performance by the location of reaction (Project Head Haumann, Marco )
- C01 - SCILL with mono- and bifunctional ionic liquids for selective hydrogenation reactions (Project Head Wasserscheid, Peter )
- C02 - Surface and interface science studies of Advanced SCILL systems (Project Head Steinrück, Hans-Peter )
- C03 - Molecular interactions and reaction mechanisms in Advanced SCILLs: From ideal model experiments to real materials and operando studies (Project Head Libuda, Jörg )
- C04 - Understanding surface modification and stability of Advanced SCILL (Project Heads Mayrhofer, Karl ; Virtanen, Sannakaisa )
- C05 - Advanced SCILLs in electrosynthesis: Understanding and tailoring selective hydrogenation an dehydrogenation at ionic liquid interfaces (Project Heads Kasian, Ph.D., Olga ; Libuda, Jörg )
- M01 - Atomistic investigations of catalysis at liquid interfaces by density-functional calculations (Project Head Görling, Andreas )
- M02 - Multiscale modelling of SILP and SCILL catalysis (Project Head Smith, Ana-Suncana )
- M03 - Molecular dynamics simulations of SCALMS, SCILL and SILP: Specific interactions, cooperative effects, self-organisation, and catalytic mechanisms (Project Head Zahn, Dirk )
- M04 - Mesoscale simulation of wetting dynamics and interface reactivity (Project Head Harting, Jens )
- MGK - Integrated research training group CLINTiRTG ‘Catalysis Science and Technology’ (Project Head Smith, Ana-Suncana )
- Z01 - Management and Organisation (Project Head Wasserscheid, Peter )
Applicant Institution
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Participating Institution
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung (IEK)
Helmholtz-Institut Erlangen-Nürnberg für Erneuerbare Energien (HI ERN); Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung (IEK)
Helmholtz-Institut Erlangen-Nürnberg für Erneuerbare Energien (HI ERN); Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Participating University
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)
Department Chemie
Lehrstuhl für Anorganische Chemie
Department Chemie
Lehrstuhl für Anorganische Chemie
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Peter Wasserscheid