Boosting Catalysis by Dynamic Stimulation: Challenges and Opportunities
- TH Department Seminar
- Date: Oct 15, 2026
- Time: 02:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Prof. Matteo Monai
- Institute for Sustainable and Circular Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
- Location: https://zoom.us/j/95264558786?pwd=3cD97gX67ICp9kPO0bRGnsJbUEcDL3.1
- Room: Meeting ID: 952 6455 8786 | Passcode: 961989
- Host: TH Department
Better catalysts are needed for a more sustainable chemical industry, but traditional catalysis has intrinsic limitations.1,2 According to the emerging theory of dynamic catalysis, intermittently stimulating catalysts surface chemistry, for example using light, electric fields, or strain, can boost catalytic performance beyond static catalysis limits.3 However, this potential has not been realized yet, due to mainly two factors: (i) efficient methods to stimulate catalysts are lacking and (ii) there is a complexity gap between models used for predictions and real catalysts, which hinders understanding of catalyst-stimulus interactions.4
In this talk, I will discuss our efforts in both directions. First, I will introduce the concept and potential of dynamic stimulated catalysis, then, I will discuss how we can better understand and guide dynamic catalyst systems looking at working catalysts under dynamic stimulation, using what we call “stimulando” spectroscopic methods.5 Finally, I will present a method to dynamically stress catalyst bodies up to 1000 Hz using a piezoelectric motor, to make the catalyst “dance”, and I will demonstrate a proof-of-concept of enhanced catalytic performance in the hydrogen evolution reaction over metal electrodes using dynamic stress.6 This opens up opportunities for steering catalysis beyond traditional catalyst design strategies, tailoring stimulation programs to boost or tweak catalytic performance.
1. P. Sabatier, Catalysis in Organic Chemistry, D. van Nostrand Company, Eight Warren Street, New York, USA, 1872.
2. A. J. Medford, A. Vojvodic, J. S. Hummelshøj, J. Voss, F. Abild-Pedersen, F. Studt, T. Bligaard, A. Nilsson and J. K. Nørskov, J. of Catal., 2015, 328, 36–42.
3. M. Shetty, A. Walton, S. R. Gathmann, et al., ACS Catal., 2020, 10, 12666–12695.
4. M. Monai, W. Albrecht, A. Alkemper, et al., ACS Catal. 2026, 16, 4077–4112.
5. F. A. Brzesowsky, M. Emond, J. van Leusden, R. Oord, P. de Peinder, B. Weckhuysen and M. Monai, Faraday Discuss., 2026, 265, 379–396.
6. X. Yu, E. Bianco, H. Wang, S. Deelen, Y. Van Den Brink, F. Meirer, C. Bourquard and M. Monai, ChemRxiv, DOI:10.26434/chemrxiv.10001536/v1. Matteo Monai - Short Bio
Matteo Monai is Associate Professor at Utrecht University since 2021, as part of the Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC CBBC). He works on stimulated heterogeneous catalysis and on the development of operando and “stimulando” spectroscopy methods. He received his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Trieste with Prof. Paolo Fornasiero in 2017, and he was a visiting researcher at UPenn in 2015–2016. He then joined the group of Prof. Bert Weckhuysen at Utrecht University in 2017–2021 as a postdoc, working on heterogeneous catalysts for (de)hydrogenation reactions. He received the Eni Young Researcher of the Year Award (2019) and Robert Karl Grasselli Award (2020) for his contributions to heterogeneous gas phase catalysis and small molecule activation.