Prof. Núria López

This month, we shine a spotlight on the work and accomplishments of Prof. Núria López of the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), a non-profit research organisation, focused on catalysis and renewable energy. ICIQ contributes to strengthening the competitiveness of the chemical industry in Southern Europe through innovation and technical improvements.

Please tell us a bit about your career path and your research within the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia.

I graduated with a degree in Chemistry and earned my PhD in Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Barcelona, Spain (1995). As a postdoctoral researcher, I joined the Center for Atomic-scale Materials Physics led by Prof. Jens K. Nørskov (Denmark). In 2005, I started my independent career at ICIQ. My research group focuses on theoretical research in heterogeneous photo-electro-catalysis. I have co-authored over 200 scientific publications, and was awarded an ERC Starting Grant (2010) and then an ERC Proof-of-concept (2015) by the European Research Council. In 2015, I was awarded a “Prize for Excellence” by the Real Sociedad Española de Química. I have collaborated with several industries in Europe to leverage atomistic modelling, participated in 9 EU projects, and served in several committees in the European Union, including the most important supercomputing initiatives in Europe. Currently, I am the Chair of PRACE‘s Steering Committee. I have also contributed to software development: Solvent contributions for VASP, Kinetic Monte-Carlo code, and the repository ioChem-BD, a computational catalysis database.

What is your role in FlowPhotoChem and how does it relate to your research in general?

The ICIQ (https://www.iciq.org/) group in FlowPhotoChem is primarily pursuing research in the modelling of (photo-electro)-catalysis. My research group is studying the catalytic phenomena through theoretical simulations of the material of interest in FlowPhotoChem. By employing DFT coupled to micro-kinetic modelling methods, we can examine the complex reaction networks taking place on metals, oxides, single atoms and any catalyst.

Have you worked with any of the project partners before?

In April 2020, I co-authored a paper entitled 'Au/Pb Interface Allows the Methane Formation Pathway in Carbon Dioxide Electroreduction,' ACS Catal. 2020, 10, 10, 5681–5690, https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.0c00749 with Csaba Janáky of the University of Szeged, and other researchers in our groups. In addition, I have shared a long term friendship with FlowPhotoChem Co-ordinator, Pau Farràs. Pau has been familiar with the work of my group for a very long time.

In your opinion, what is the most exciting aspect of FlowPhotoChem?

For me, the integration of all the knowledge chain from the small-size synthesis and modelling to the medium pilots is the most exciting part of FlowPhotoChem. Also, the integration and support of the industry partners in the project is very important.

Thank you very much for your time!