Lebenslauf
1979 Promotion an der Universität Aarhus (Dänemark)
1979 – 1981 Postdoc beim IBM T. J. Watson Research Center (USA) & Nordita Institute, Kopenhagen
1987 – 1992 Forschungsprofessor an der Technischen Universität Dänemarks (DTU)
1992 – 2010 Professor für theoretische Physik, Fakultät für Physik der DTU
1993 – 2003 Direktor am Zentrum für Atomare Materialphysik (CAMP), DTU
2010 – 2018 Leland T. Edwards Professur, School of Engineering, Stanford University
2010 – 2018 Direktor am SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, Stanford University & SLAC Beschleunigerlabor
2018 – heute Villum Kann Rasmussen Professur an der DTU
2009 Alwin-Mittasch-Preis der DECHEMA
Seine Forschungsinteressen beinhalten theoretische Betrachtungen von Oberflächen, Katalyse, elektronischer Struktur von Materialien und Nanostrukturen
Abstract
„Catalysis for sustainable production of fuels and chemicals”
The development of sustainable energy systems 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 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 allows a detailed understanding of elementary chemical processes at transition metal surfaces and singles out the most important parameters determining catalytic activity and selectivity. The insight can be used to define catalyst design rules and examples of their use will be given.