Congratulations to Dr. Thimo Jacobs for an Excellent PhD Defense. Rafael has successfully defended his PhD thesis, supervised by Prof. Bert Weckhuysen and dr. W van der Stam.

In his thesis, Thimo investigated the catalytic conversion of CO2 into value-added chemical building blocks, developing and applying spectroscopic methods to track catalyst performance. He focused on two key techniques: luminescence thermometry and Raman spectroscopy, achieving spatial resolution of 1 µm2 and temporal resolution of seconds. He optimized lanthanide-based luminescent thermometers for improved signal strength and low temperature uncertainties. Through his research, Thimo studied temperature changes in both thermocatalytic CO2 hydrogenation and electrocatalytic hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions. He discovered significant temperature increases during CO2 and H2 gas introduction, and observed temperature variations related to current density and electrolyte composition. His work included developing more robust and homogeneous plasmonic substrates for studying reaction intermediates, combining atomic layer deposition and lithography. His research established guidelines for spatiotemporal spectroscopic studies of catalytic reactions.

Thimos’s PhD thesis is available to read here.