How ARC CBBC brings together distinct scientific perspectives to advance sustainable chemistry
When chemists Matteo Monai and Nikolay Kosinov sat down for coffee at an ARC CBBC summer school in 2024, they began discussing ideas that would develop into a new collaboration. While they had crossed paths before – Matteo had even visited Nikolay's lab back in 2017 – it was during this informal conversation that they discovered their complementary research interests could address a challenge in catalysis research.
"We both realized we're interested in isotopic effects, both in catalysis and in spectroscopy, to really unravel these complex problems," Matteo says. This shared interest has now evolved into a collaborative project that could change how scientists interpret data from catalytic surfaces; ultimately contributing to the development of more efficient, sustainable chemical processes.
The research
Their collaborative project focuses on understanding what actually happens on the surface of a catalyst during a chemical reaction. Current methods of observation, particularly infrared spectroscopy, can be misleading.
"Research has shown that when molecules are adsorbed on a catalyst surface, what we see with spectroscopy is actually very distorted," Matteo explains. "It's like when many people come together in a crowd and you're not able to distinguish who these individuals are. Usually people think we can point at different individuals in this group, but it actually turns out they just behave as a crowd. The molecules behave in a similar way, making it difficult to distinguish individual molecules."
Nikolay: "Imagine you have thousands of dancers. You can see how this whole thing moves, but you can't really see what one dancer is doing. Now imagine that you dress all those dancers in white, but one of them you dress in black. This dancer would become very contrasted to other dancers, so you can start to see what one person is doing in this crowd."
This is precisely what the researchers aim to do with using isotopes: variants of the same element that have different weights due to extra neutrons. By strategically "coloring" specific molecules with different isotopes, they can track how these molecules interact with catalyst surfaces, revealing important details about intermediate steps in chemical reactions that were previously hidden.
Deeper knowledge
When asked why this fundamental research matters, Nikolay draws a parallel to consumer technology: "Imagine you have an old-generation smartphone. It works perfectly, but it may be a bit slow compared to newer models. If people at the tech company didn't know how the smartphone worked, they wouldn't be able to develop the newer versions and keep things moving forward. You need to know the fundamentals of your material and the interplay between the material and reactants to really master this and take it to the next level."
Their work has particular relevance for the future of sustainable chemistry. As Nikolay explains: "On a higher scale, we now have to break very non-polar molecules like hydrocarbons from oil and gas, but in the future, we will have to deal with more polar carbon sources like biomass, CO2, waste plastics, etc. For this, we need new catalysts, and to develop these, we first need to understand how these materials work in general."
Matteo adds that there's also a meta-scientific aspect to their research: "The promise of operando spectroscopy is that you can look at a catalyst at work and understand how it works, but I think it's more complicated than this. There might be a lot of distortion in the spectra due to the interaction of molecules on the surface. So the question is: how much are we actually capable of understanding?"
The researchers
For Nikolay, catalysis represented the perfect field to satisfy his broad curiosity. "From a very early age, I liked chemistry," he says. "Catalysis combines many different types of chemistry: organic, inorganic, analytical, physical. You can learn a little bit from all those fields and still be a relatively successful researcher." This approach was the start of his 17-year journey in the field, from his early days as a junior researcher in Russia to his current position as assistant professor at Eindhoven University of Technology.
Matteo's path to catalysis research began with an inspirational high school chemistry teacher, but the true moment of revelation came during his master's degree. "During the catalysis course, I was almost struck by lightning," he says. "I felt attracted by the complexity. We didn't know – and we still don't know exactly how a catalyst works. There are a lot of unknowns, and I think that's what attracted me, compared to fields that felt more established."
After completing his PhD in Trieste, Italy, Matteo came to the Netherlands in 2017 as a postdoc - even, as the first postdoc of the ARC CBBC Consortium - before starting as assistant professor in 2021.
Complementary expertise
In this collaboration, each researcher brings different strengths to the table.
"I've been working a lot with isotopes for different applications, mainly to see where different molecules go and how they form products," Nikolay says. "I'm passionate about isotope effects on catalyst reactivity, absorption, and diffusion, and now Matteo is going to apply isotopes to study catalytic mechanisms in fine detail." Together, they can tackle a problem that neither could fully address alone.
Real-world impact
While the project may seem mostly academic, it has important consequences for industry partners like Shell. "Those people are the ones who have to develop the 'next-generation smartphones' in the catalysis world," Nikolay explains. "These fundamental insights are useful for them because it broadens their understanding of the field."
For the researchers, industry collaboration provides a valuable "reality check" about what problems are most relevant. "It's good to keep in mind what problems are relevant to industry," Matteo notes. "On the other hand, for people in industry, it can be costly or too time-consuming to run fundamental spectroscopy experiments. So there's a lot to gain from this fundamental knowledge."
Bridging worlds
ARC CBBC played a key role in bringing these researchers together. “The different ARC CBBC events were places for Nikolay and me to meet," Matteo says. "Bringing people together is really instrumental."
Beyond facilitating connections, ARC CBBC provides the much needed infrastructure. "We have a new top-of-the-range infrared spectrometer that we're going to use in this project because of the investment of this consortium," Matteo says.
Nikolay emphasizes the importance of the consortium for bridging academia and industry: "Bridging the gap starts with people communicating, which is easier said than done. You need many stepping stones to bridge this gap; you cannot do it in one go. Platforms like ARC CBBC are super important because otherwise, academia and industry tend to stay comfortable in their own corners instead of looking for collaborations like these."
Matteo adds that there's also a long-term network effect: "Another aspect is all the alumni: the PhDs and postdocs who were part of the consortium form a network. It's a rippling effect. You throw a stone in the pond, and the effects propagate. With such a large-scale project over 10 years with many researchers, that's an added value."
Long-term
While the research will first improve how scientists analyze data, it has broader benefits for sustainable chemistry down the road. "Practically, we could develop a tool or an assistant that helps analyze these spectra, or a tutorial on how to analyze them," Matteo explains. "It will influence the way people interpret spectra and take the next step."
This could accelerate the development cycle for new catalysts, which typically takes about 10 years from lab discovery to industrial implementation. By providing clearer insights into how catalysts work at the molecular level, the research could help scientists design better catalysts for critical processes like CO2 conversion; a key technology for addressing climate change.
Partnership
Matteo and Nikolay's story demonstrates how bringing together different scientific perspectives - plus the reality check that industry partners provide - can accelerate progress toward more sustainable chemical processes.
"Don't underestimate the fact of just being in the same room," Matteo says. "It's important for everybody to be at the same table. It's really about being able to talk to each other, which is crucial in this day and age when time is of the essence."
As they await the official start of their project, both researchers are excited about what lies ahead. "I'm excited to see where this is going," Matteo says. For sustainable chemistry, that destination could be clearer understanding, better catalysts, and ultimately, more efficient ways to convert CO2 and other challenging feedstocks into valuable products: a crucial step toward a more circular, sustainable future.
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