Prof. Antoni Llobet

Catalysis

Group Leader:
Antoni Llobet

Administrative Support:
María José Gutiérrez

Postdoctoral Researchers:
Carolina Gimbert / Jan Holub /Laura Dura/Marcos Gil / Jan C. Oldengott / Chuanjun Wang (until April)

PhD Students:
Sergi Grau/Md Asmaul Hoque/Abolfazl Ghaderian/ Primavera Pelosin/ Nataliia Vereshchuk/Marta Ventosa / Navid Jameeimoghaddam / Andrew C. Howe / Ludovico Riccardi / Pablo Garrido

Visiting Students:
Alice de Palo (until March), Andrey Shatskiy (March-May), Bing Jiang (June), Yuanyuan Shi (Oct.-Dec.), Tingting Han (from Dec.)

Summer Fellows:
Irene Ligielli

Summary

The group of Prof. Llobet develops research in the field of redox catalysis using transition metal complexes for the oxidation and reduction of organic and inorganic substrates of technological interest. Its general objective is to understand the various factors that affect the efficiency and selectivity of the catalysts, paying special attention to the electronic structure and the spatial arrangement of the transition metals. The group focuses specifically on the catalytic oxidation of water to molecular dioxygen, taking into account the implications of this reaction for new energy conversion schemes based on artificial photosynthesis. The final objective is the generation of clean and renewable fuels with high energy density.

Publications

‘Synthesis, Structure, and Redox Properties of a trans-Diaqua Ru Complex That Reaches Seven-Coordination at High Oxidation States’
R. Matheu, J. Benet-Buchholz, X. Sala, A. Llobet
Inorg. Chem. 2018, 57 (4), 1757-1765

‘The Role of Seven Coordination in Ru-catalyzed Water Oxidation’
R. Matheu, M.Z. Ertem, M. Pipelier, J. Lebreton, D. Dubreuil, J. Benet-Buchholz, X. Sala, A. Tessier, A. Llobet
ACS Catal. 2018, 8, 2039-2048

‘Elucidating the Nature of the Excited State of a Heteroleptic Copper Photosensitizer Using Time-Resolved X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy’
D. Moonshiram, P. Garrido-Barros, C. Gimbert-Suriñach, A. Picón, C. Liu, X. Zhang, M. Karnahl, A. Llobet
Chem. Eur. J. 2018, 24 (24), 6464-6472

MORE PUBLICATIONS

‘A Hybrid Molecular Photoanode for Efficient Light Induced Water Oxidation’
S. Grau, S. Berardi, A. Moya, R. Matheu, V. Cristino, J. Vilatela, C. A. Bignozzi, S. Caramori, C. Gimbert Suriñach, A. Llobet
Sustainable Energy Fuels 2018, 2 (9), 1979-1985

‘Catalytic H2 Evolution with CoO, Co(OH)2 and CoO(OH) Nanoparticles Generated from a Molecular Polynuclear Co Complex’
M. Gil‐Sepulcre, C. Gimbert‐Suriñach, D. Aguilà, V. Velasco, J. García‐Antón, A. Llobet, G. Aromí, R. Bofill, X. Sala
Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2018, 2018 (13), 1499-1505

‘Light-driven water oxidation using hybrid photosensitizer-decorated Co3O4 nanoparticles’
J. De Tovar, N. Romero, S. A. Denisov, R. Bofill, C. Gimbert-Suriñach, D. Ciuculescu-Pradins, S. Drouet, A. Llobet, P. Lecante, V. Colliere, Z. Freixa, N. McClenaghan, C. Amiens, J. García-Antón, K. Philippot, X. Sala
Mater. Today 2018, 9, 506-515

‘Behavior of Ru–bda Water‐Oxidation Catalysts in Low Oxidation States’
R. Matheu, A. Ghaderian, L. Francàs, P. Chernev, M. Z. Ertem, J. Benet-Buchholz, V. Batista, M. Haumann, C. Gimbert-Suriñach, X. Sala, A. Llobet
Chem. – Eur. J. 2018, 24 (49), 12838-12847

Projects

eSCALED
European School on Artificial Leaf: Electrodes Devices
MSCA ITN | Ref: 765376 Web page

Síntesis de amoníaco en condiciones suaves inducida por luz
Ministerio | Ref: CTQ2015-73028-EXP

RED-CAT
Grup de Catàlisi Redox
AGAUR | Ref: 2017 SGR 1631

Catalizadores moleculares para la descomposición del agua por medio de la luz solar
Ministerio | Ref: CTQ2016-80058-R

Synthesis, structure and reactivity of redox catalysts based on transition metal complexes
Ministerio, Severo Ochoa | Ref: BES-2015-073069

Theses Supervised

Yuanyuan Shi
October 15^th, 2018
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
“Materials and Molecules for Pollution Free Clean Energy”

Pablo Garrido Barros
November 2^nd, 2018
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
“Molecular Water Oxidation Catalysts Based on Copper and Nickel Complexes”

Features

Antoni Llobet receives ‘Humboldt Research Award’ in recognition for his scientific career
http://www.iciq.org/antoni-llobet-receives-humboldt-research-award-in-recognition-for-his-scientific-career/