Petra de Jongh appointed as Chair of Inorganic Nanomaterials
Strengthening research and education in energy and resources
Petra de Jongh was appointed as Chair of Inorganic Nanomaterials at the Department of Chemistry and the Debye Institute of Nanomaterials Science on 1 February. De Jongh is an expert in catalysts and related materials that are key for the transition towards sustainably produced fuels and chemical building blocks. Her appointment strengthens Utrecht 木瓜福利影视鈥檚 focal area 鈥楨nergy and Resources鈥, which focuses on fundamental breakthroughs in the field of sustainability.
鈥淭hese are exciting times for scientists鈥, De Jongh says. 鈥淎 transition from a fossil fuel-based society to one based on sustainable, alternative resources will only be possible by exploring new avenues to design and assemble innovative functional nanomaterials.鈥
Longstanding tradition
De Jongh is at the forefront of research in the field of reversible hydrogen storage materials. Hydrogen, as an energy carrier, is expected to play a central role in the conversion, storage and usage of energy from sustainable resources.De Jong鈥檚 research contributes to a longstanding tradition of excellence in the preparation and understanding of nanostructured materials at the Catalysis Centre Utrecht. Last year, De Jong reported the discovery of a new method to prepare durable catalysts in Nature Materials. Up to four times longer lifetimes were achieved by careful placement of metal nanoparticles in these materials.
Societal relevance
鈥淢y passion is to gain insight in and increase our control over materials on the nanoscale, allowing us to design and assemble them to have the desired functionalities. Finding solutions for a more sustainable use of energy and resources is one of the greatest challenges of our time.鈥De Jongh received a Vidi grant for her hydrogen research in 2006. Since then she was closely involved in the National Sustainable Hydrogen programme. De Jongh is one of the principal investigators of the 鈥楥enter for Atomic Level Catalyst Design鈥, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Last year, she received a Vici grant for her research on sustainable catalysts.