Jordi Ampurdanés, PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Atsushi Urakawa defended his PhD Thesis entitled “Novel Catalytic Materials and Strategies for Hydrogen Production and Hydrogenation Reactions based on PEM Electrolysis” (assigned to the Physical and Inorganic Chemistry Department of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili) publicly on December 17th at the ICIQ auditorium.
The members of his evaluation committee were: Prof. J. R. Galán-Mascarós (ICIQ), Prof. Antonio de Lucas Consuegra (Universidad de Castilla La Mancha) and Prof. Satoshi Hinokuma (Kumamoto University).
Dr. Ampurdanés with his supervisor, Dr. Atsushi Urakawa, and the evaluation committee
Abstract:
Water electrolysis by means of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) technology has been regarded as one of the most promising techniques for clean and sustainable hydrogen generation. Besides, this approach can be also employed as potential strategy to perform hydrogenation reactions for pollutants abatement. Thus, multipurpose PEM electrocatalytic reactors integrated in a continuous flow-through system for (1) hydrogen production and (2) nitrate (target pollutant) hydrogenation, were successfully designed, constructed and lately evaluated. Metal-based supported heterogeneous catalysts were employed as electrode material to carry out the desired electrochemical reactions.