Javier Pérez-Ramírez
Catalysis Engineering,
Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Zurich, Switzerland
Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Zurich, Switzerland
Tentative title
Single atom catalysis: a decade of stunning progress and the promise for a bright future
Javier Pérez-Ramírez studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Alicante and received his PhD degree at Delft University of Technology in 2002. Following a period in industry at Norsk Hydro and Yara International (2002-2005), he joined the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia as an ICREA Professor before being appointed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich as the Professor of Catalysis Engineering in 2010. His research focuses on the design of catalytic materials tackling current and future energy, resource, and environmental challenges of society. The main topics of interest include the valorization of renewables, carbon dioxide, and natural gas using tailored nanostructured materials. He has published over 400 articles and is co-inventor of more than 20 patents. He has been recognized by several awards, most recently the RSC Sustainable Energy Award (2017) and the Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis for the North American Catalysis Society (2019). He serves as the director of studies of the bachelor and master degrees in chemical and bioengineering at ETH Zurich and as the Editor-in-Chief of Catalysis Science and Technology. Since 2019, Javier is Isaac Manasseh Meyer Chair Professor at the National University of Singapore and directs the NUS Flagship Green Energy program. In 2020, he was appointed as the Director of the NCCR Catalysis. NCCRs are long-term research projects that aim to strengthen research in areas of strategic importance for the future of Swiss science, business and society.
Selected publications:
- Nanostructuring unlocks high performance of platinum single-atom catalysts for stable vinyl chloride production, S.K. Kaiser, E. Fako, G. Manzocchi, F. Krumeich, R. Hauert, A.H. Clark, O.V. Safonova, N. López, J. Pérez-Ramírez, Nat. Catal. 2020, 3, 376–385.
- Atomic-scale engineering of indium oxide promotion by palladium for methanol production via CO2 hydrogenation, M.S. Frei, C. Mondelli, R. Garcia-Muelas, K.S. Kley, B. Puértolas, N. López, O. Safonova, J.A. Stewart, D. Curulla Ferré, J. Pérez-Ramírez, Nat. Commun. 2019, 10:3377.
- Atom-by-atom resolution of structure-function relations over low-nuclearity metal catalysts, E. Vorobyeva, E. Fako, Z. Chen, S.M. Collins, D. Johnstone, P.A. Midgley, R. Hauert, O.V. Safonova, G. Vilé, N. López, S. Mitchell, J. Pérez-Ramírez, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 8724–8729.
- A heterogeneous single-atom palladium catalyst surpassing homogeneous systems for Suzuki coupling, Z. Chen, E. Vorobyeva, S. Mitchell, E. Fako, M.A. Ortuño, N. López, S.M. Collins, P.A. Midgley, S. Richard, G. Vilé, J. Pérez-Ramírez, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2018, 13, 702–707.
- A stable single-site palladium catalyst for hydrogenations, G. Vilé, D. Albani, M. Nachtegaal, Z. Chen, D. Dontsova, M. Antonietti, N. López, J. Pérez-Ramírez, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 11265–11269.