Entry requirements

120 credits with 90 credits in chemistry and physics, of which at least 60 credits in chemistry including Catalysis. Participation in Photochemistry. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• identify, compare and evaluate different approaches for fuel production (including solar fuels) involving molecular catalysts and what advantages and challenges they present in comparison to alternative approaches.
• critically analyse the current understanding of how natural enzymes activate earth-abundant metals to achieve efficient catalysis of reactions relevant for fuel production.
• analyse and discuss principles for designing molecular catalytic systems relevant to solar fuel production, as well as strategies for optimising their catalytic performance.
• summarise and report key techniques employed for studying enzymatic and synthetic molecular catalysts, including the potentials and limitations of such techniques.

Content

Renewable energy carriers. Types of molecular catalysts used in renewable fuel production (synthetic and enzymatic). Molecular approaches to solar fuel production. Structures and mechanisms of biocatalysts and artificial catalysts for water oxidation, carbon dioxide fixation, nitrogen fixation, oxygen reduction and hydrogen formation. Principles governing design of molecular catalysts in oxidative and reductive reactions. Structural aspects, thermodynamics, kinetics, proton coupled electron transfer and over-potentials for catalytic reactions. Strategies to optimise catalytic activity, robustness and efficiency of catalysts made of earth-abundant elements. How to define and measure solar-to-fuel energy efficiencies and the stabilities of catalytic systems. How to understand and improve present molecular catalytic systems regarding activity, selectivity and robustness.

Instruction

Lectures, problem-solving sessions, laboratory work, and project.

Assessment

Written examination (6 credits), written assignments and laboratory exercises (4 credits). The final grade will be based on the weighted sum of these components.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.support from the disability coordinator of the university.