Erik Vesselli
Erik Vesselli
Steering and tailoring the chemistry of carbon oxides in heterogeneous catalytic synthesis reactions
In the perspective of a sustainable energy economy, the reduction of CO2 and CO is attracting increasing attention as a key step towards the synthesis of fuels and valuable chemicals. A possible strategy to develop novel conversion catalysts consists in mimicking reaction centers available in nature, like those in enzymes where Fe, Ni, and Cu play a major role as active metals. The identification of useful descriptors to engineer and tune the reactivity of a surface in the desired way is one of the main objectives of the science of catalysis, with evident applicative interest. To this purpose, a crucial issue is the determination of the relevant active sites and rate limiting steps. This approach can be exploited to design the catalytic activity and selectivity of a NiCu surface, yielding a tailored, continuous tuning of the CO and CO2 binding energies and reactivity. The results obtained on a model system and interpreted on the basis of ab-initio calculations definitely explain the behavior observed under realistic reaction conditions, yielding general conclusions that may be extended to other bimetallic phases.

Welcome
to the European Conference on Materials and Technologies for Sustainable Growth website.
ECo MaTech will be held in Bled (Slovenia) from 19th to 21st of September 2013.
Eco MaTech is the third edition of a conference that started in 2009. The aim of ECo MaTech is to gather representatives of academic and R&D institutions, industry, governmental agencies and civil society to:
- present their work, ideas and products,
- increase fruitful exhanges between all the actors involved in sustainable growth technologies,
- increase the networking with sustainable growth professionals,
- establish a general discussion platform on sustainable growth.
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Conference rooms at Kompas hotel
The conference will be held in Bled at Kompas Hotel. The hotel boasts a long experience in hosting international conferences.

Visit Bled
With immense natural beauty, Bled, together with its surroundings, ranks among the most beautiful alpine resorts, renowned for its mild, healing climate and thermal lake water. For more information, please visit bled.si.