Metal nitrides - catalyst and process development towards value added chemicals.

毫无疑问，在未来几年，甲烷将改变化学工业，取代石油成为合成化学品的主要碳氢化合物原料。此外，使用可再生电力产生的回收/捕获的二氧化碳和氢气不仅可以显著减少相关的温室气体排放，还可以关闭材料循环，这是向循环经济过渡的关键。催化剂的使用是开发环境友好和经济上可行的转化工艺的关键。毫无疑问，催化起着至关重要的作用。因此，我的长期愿景和计划是开发和理解致力于CH4和CO2可持续转化的催化过程和反应器工程概念，这也被认为是催化和绿色化学的重大挑战之一。

Methane will undoubtedly change the chemical industry and replace petroleum as main hydrocarbon feedstock for the synthesis of chemicals in the years to come. In addition, using recycled/captured carbon dioxide and hydrogen generated by renewable electricity would allow not only to significantly reduce the associated greenhouse gas emission but also to close the material loops, a key imperative in the transition to a circular economy. The use of a catalyst is key to the development of environmentally friendly and economically feasible conversion processes. There is no doubt that catalysis plays a critical role. Therefore, my long-term vision and plan are to develop and understand catalyzed processes and reactor engineering concepts dedicated to the sustainable conversion of CH4 and CO2, which also has been identified as one of the grand challenges in catalysis and green chemistry. The proposed research program in this field is original and innovative as it will concentrate on new metal-nitride based catalyst systems. Most research is focused on precious metals and metal oxides, which are the most investigated catalyst materials. Metal nitride, on the other hand, is a rather new class of heterogeneous catalysts that is still not very well understood. They have unique properties, and it is suggested that simple metal nitrides can replace precious metals for various reactions. My overall aim is to gain deeper fundamental understanding of the role of the catalyst active sites and surface intermediates in order to design better catalysts and processes. With the Discovery Grant I can freely explore new ideas and develop new catalysts with well-defined structures in order to get a comprehensive assessment of the structure-activity relationship. In detail, we will (1) develop new metal nitride structures, and assess their (2) catalytic and (3) plasma-catalytic reactivity towards the direct conversion of CH4 and CO2. The work will be conducted by 3 PhD, 3 Master's and 5 undergraduate students following a framework consisting of comprehensive experimental and modeling procedures. In summary, metal nitrides are a promising class of catalysts and this research program will contribute to the advancement of fundamental knowledge in catalysis but it also offers great potential for large scale applications. With this in mind, I expect to contribute not only to scientific publications and students training but also to patent applications as well as to technology transfer to the Canadian industry.