Catarina Alves

About me

My name is Catarina Alves, and I am originally from Porto, Portugal. In Portugal, I have completed my PhD in Chemical Engineering (November 2025) at the Materials Engineering & Energy group, Centro de Química Estrutural at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, under the supervision of Professor Fátima Montemor and Professor Jorge Correia. Motivated by the urgent need to accelerate the energy transition to more sustainable technologies, my doctoral research addressed challenges in energy storage, focusing on self-protective manganese dioxide electrodes to improve durability under charge/discharge cycling.

Here, in the Netherlands, I will work in a collaborative project between two institutions: TU/e and Utrecht University, alongside an industrial partner (Shell) to develop novel materials for electrocatalysis. I will be synthesizing high entropy alloys (HEAs) – an emerging class of materials – in Utrecht University with Eline Hutter and evaluated them, electrochemically, at TU/e with Marta Costa Figueiredo for the evolution of oxygen in alkaline media. By combining expertise in materials science and electrochemistry, and with Shell as an industry partner, the project creates a ‘catalytic synergy’ aimed at deepening the fundamental understanding on HEAs and supporting progress towards cleaner, more sustainable chemistry.