Understanding Catalysis, one Atom at a Time

ISC Department Seminar
Date: May 8, 2026
Time: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Christophe Coperét
ETH Zurich, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences
Location: Building P, Faradayweg 16, 14195 Berlin
Room: Seminar Room P 2.05
Host: Interface Science Department
Contact: steinhagen@fhi-berlin.mpg.de
Topic: Discussion and debate formats, lectures

Most efficient chemical processes used in industry rely on heterogeneous catalysis. While the search for more sustainable processes and the changes in environmental policies impose the continuous development of more efficient catalysts, we have currently little understanding of the structure of the actives in these processes. Hence, due to their inherent complexity, heterogeneous catalysts have been mostly developed empirically.

Here, we will show how constructing active sites, one atom at a time on surfaces, enables molecular-level understanding and implementation of rational approaches for the improvement of catalytic processes. We will first illustrate how this approach enables to generate selective single-site catalysts. We will next show how from these isolated (single) sites, one can generate and understand far more complex systems such as supported nanoparticles, where interfaces, alloying… play a critical role. This lecture will be developed around these themes and will show how the development of advanced characterization tools augmented by computational approaches can provide useful information to bridge the gap between fundamental and applied (industrial) catalysis.

Keywords: Single sites, Single Atom Catalysts, Nanoparticles

BIO

Christophe Copéret (CCH) was trained in chemistry and chemical engineering (CPE-Lyon) and carried out a PhD at Purdue University (E.i. Negishi). After a postdoctoral stay at Scripps (K.B. Sharpless), CCH entered CNRS and was promoted Director (1998-2008). CCH is Professor at ETH Zürich (2010) and an Associate Editor for JACS (2022). CCH is an elected member of the Academia Europaea, the French Académie des Sciences, and Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SAWT). His scientific interest lies at the frontiers of molecular, material and surface chemistry with the aim to understand the electronic structure and design molecularly-defined heterogenous catalysts.