Center for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis - Home

The COK constitutes a large interdisciplinary team involved in teaching and research in the chemistry of the interphases solid-gas, solid-liquid, and solid-solid. The COK has gained international recognition and is an Inter-Universitary Attraction Pole and an EU Human Capital and Mobility Host Institute. The COK envisages to be a centre of excellence for research and teaching of interphase chemistry and catalysis at KU Leuven and to promote interphase chemistry and catalysis at European and international levels. It relies on advanced research instruments and a highly motivated technical and scientific staff.


Research Profile

The COK is active in many aspects of interphase chemistry, including, i. synthesis of microporous, mesoporous, nano-sized materials, two-dimensional solids, and supramolecular ensembles and membranes, ii. structural and surface chemistry, iii. gas-solid and liquid-solid interactions, iv. structure-activity relationships in heterogeneous catalysis, v. supramolecular and environmental catalysis. The COK approach is unique as synthesis, characterisation and application of highly divided solids, membranes in adsorption and catalysis is done under the same roof.

Keywords

• nanoporous, microporous and mesoporous inorganic materials, zeolites, molecular sieves, clays, membranes, sub-colloidal zeolites
• adsorbents; heterogeneous catalysts, hybrid catalysts, chiral solid catalysts, enzyme mimics and immobilized enzymes; catalytic and chiral membranes, tubular, flat-sheet and composite membranes; honeycomb catalysts
• catalyst immobilization; heterogenization of metallocenes; inclusion complexes; chiral selectors in solids and membranes
• chemometrics and experimental design related to catalysis
• advanced spectroscopy of highly dispersed solids

Expertise and Services

• tailor-made design of super-selective catalysts for fine chemicals, agrochemicals, food chemistry, fat and oleo chemistry, carbohydrate chemisty, petrochemistry; DENOX treatment of lean exhaust
• in-situ characterization of solids interacting with gases and liquids by XRD, MAS NMR, DOR, MQ MAS NMR, FTIR, UV-VIS, ESR, AFM, SEM, TGA, DTA, OMNISORP
• catalytic characterization in vapor and liquid phase batch and continuous fully-automated reactors; tubular and flat-sheet membrane reactors
  separation and identification of compounds in mixtures via GC, HPLC, GC/MS; LC/MSn, preparative HPLC and IR, NMR
• membrane separations via evapomeation, pervaporation, pertraction, chiral stationary phases for chromatography

Users

• European (Brite Euram; COST), Belgian Federal (IUAP-PAI) and Flemish (GOA) authorities ; Flemish Research Agencies (FWO, IWT)
• industry (commodity chemical, fine chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, agrochemical, food, car manufacturing, catalyst manufacturing)