Researcher in Engineering of Catalytic Active Sites on Nanocarbons for Photocatalysis

The Università degli Studi di Padova seeks a Researcher to develop catalytic systems based on non-noble metals for the selective semi-hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene under visible light, using water as a proton source. The role involves designing, synthesizing, and characterizing first-row transition-metal complexes, evaluating their catalytic activity in combination with photosensitizers, and investigating relationships between complex structure, electrochemical properties, and catalytic performance. Spectroscopic, electrochemical, and isotope-labelling studies will probe reaction mechanisms to guide the design of active metal sites on nanomaterials.