Publications related to Strain-relief pattern as guide for the formation of surface-supported bimolecular nanoribbons

The molecular scale mechanism of deposition ice nucleation on silver iodide

Athanasios Nenes, Mária Lbadaoui-Darvas, André Welti

Heterogeneous ice nucleation is a ubiquitous process in the natural and built environment. Deposition ice nucleation, i.e. heterogeneous ice nucleation that - according to the traditional view - occurs in a subsaturated water vapor environment and in the a ...

Royal Soc Chemistry2024

Gas/Surface reactions probed by reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy

Harmina Vejayan

In my thesis, I present an investigation of the dissociation reactions of gas phase molecules on single crystal metal surfaces studied by a molecular beam in combination with Reflection Absorption Infrared Spectroscopy (RAIRS). Two gas/surface systems were ...

EPFL2023

Flowing Gas Experiments Reveal Mechanistic Details of Interfacial Reactions on a Molecular Level at Knudsen Flow Conditions

Christian Ludwig, Michel Rossi, Riccardo Iannarelli

Knudsen flow experiments and its interpretation in terms of adsorption/desorption kinetics as well as quantitative uptake on substrates of interest is presented together with the description of critical design parameters of the Knudsen Flow Reactor (KFR). ...

2022

Molecular dynamics simulations of the evaporation of hydrated ions from aqueous solution

Philip Robin Loche

Although important for atmospheric processes and gas-phase catalysis, very little is known about the hydration state of ions in the vapor phase. Here we study the evaporation energetics and kinetics of a chloride ion from liquid water by molecular dynamics ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2022

Gold-in-copper at low *CO coverage enables efficient electromethanation of CO2

Michael Graetzel, Dan Ren, Yang Li, Jun Li, Yongfeng Xie, Xiaoyan Wang, Yiping Wang, Ziyun Wang, Pengfei Ou, Yi Xu

The renewable-electricity-powered CO2 electroreduction reaction provides a promising means to store intermittent renewable energy in the form of valuable chemicals and dispatchable fuels. Renewable methane produced using CO2 electroreduction attracts inter ...

Nature Research2021

Infrared Activities of Adsorbed Species on Metal Surfaces: The Puzzle of Adsorbed Methyl (CH3)

Rainer Beck, Harmina Vejayan

Reflection–absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) is widely used to identify molecular adsorbates on metals during surface chemical reactions, but the interpretation of RAIRS data can be difficult with experiment alone. Here, we reveal from first-princip ...

2021

In-core dosimetry for the validation of neutron spectra in the CROCUS reactor

Andreas Pautz, Vincent Pierre Lamirand, Pavel Frajtag, Axel Guy Marie Laureau, Yifeng Jiang

The present article describes the preliminary validation study of simulated in-core and reflector n eutron spectra in preparation of oncoming experimental programs in the zero-power reactor CROCUS at EPFL. For this purpose, a set of activation foils were i ...

E D P SCIENCES2020

Mechanisms of the Heterogeneously Catalyzed Reaction of CO2 Hydrogenation on Transition Metal Surfaces

Kun Zhao

Renewable energy supply and energy storage in a closed materials cycle are the urgent global challenges of the 21st century. Carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation over catalysts is a method to produce synthetic fuels from renewable energy in a CO2 neutral cyc ...

EPFL2020

Non-equilibrium kinetics and trajectory thermodynamics of synthetic molecular pumps

Cristian Pezzato

A major goal in the design of synthetic molecular machines is the creation of pumps that can use the input of energy to transport material from a reservoir at low chemical potential to a different reservoir at higher chemical potential, thereby forming and ...

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY2020

Investigation of the heterogeneously catalysed gas phase CO2 hydrogenation reaction: Development of analysis methods and reaction analysis on pristine metal catalysts

Robin Tobias Andreas Mutschler

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the development of analysis methods that enable an improved investigation of the CO2 hydrogenation reaction such as quantitative mass spectrometry and infrared thermography. Furthermore, the contribution is in the ...

EPFL2019