Design of Heterogeneous Catalysts

Paolo P. Pescarmona is currently Assistant Professor in Sustainable Chemical Products and Catalysis at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He received his Master Degree in Chemistry from the University of Torino, Italy, in 1997. In 1999 he moved to the Netherlands, where he obtained his Ph.D. from the Delft University of Technology in 2003. From 2005 to 2014 he worked at the University of Leuven, Belgium, first as a postdoctoral researcher and then as Assistant Professor. In August 2014, he moved to his present academic position at the University of Groningen. His research approach involves the rational design and development of catalytic materials for academically and industrially relevant applications with a special focus on green chemistry. His research activities cover various areas of heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis, including carbon dioxide fixation, biomass conversion, catalytic oxidations, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis and the use of high-throughput techniques for the synthesis and testing of catalysts in liquid phase and in supercritical carbon dioxide.

Carmela Aprile is Associate Professor in Materials Chemistry at the University of Namur (Belgium). She obtained her Master in Chemistry (2000) and her PhD in Chemistry (2004) at the Universita degli Studi di Palermo (Italy). After completing her PhD, she joined Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (Spain), where she worked first as postdoctoral researcher (2004-2005) and then as research assistant (2006-2009), before joining as Associated Academic Staff the Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis at the KU Leuven (2009-2010) in Belgium. In October 2010, she moved to the University of Namur as Assistant Professor and, from 2013, as Associate Professor in Materials Chemistry. At the University of Namur she is leading the group of Applied Materials Chemistry. Her research area covers different fields including mesoporous materials, metal and metal oxides nanoparticles, organic-inorganic hybrid solids, characterisation (in particular solid state nuclear magnetic resonance) and heterogeneous catalysis with a particular attention to sustainable chemistry.