Kordula Schnabl

Alumna
Utrecht University

Department

Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis

Contact information

Room
David de Wied Gebouw, 4th floor

Email address
k.b.schnabl@uu.nl

Key expertises

Waterborne coatings, Spectroscopy, film formation, depolymerization, polymer analytics

About me

I am PhD candidate in the group of Prof. Weckhuysen in Utrecht, working on coating formations from biobased raw materials like chitin. I am depolymerizing the crude polymer with different methods including mechanochemical routes and heterogeneously catalyzed ones. In the past, I did my Masters in photocatalysis studying the photocatalytic conversion of tertiary alcohols on rutile TiO2 (110). Therefore, catalysis spans throughout my whole education which I really enjoy.

About my research

My research is about valorizing biomass crude products to gain building blocks used for plastic alternatives. Therefore, I am depolymerizing chitosan to a smaller oligomer, soluble in water, to be used further as biobased alternative in the plastic production, and characterizer the resulting formed films. To depolymerize, I will take advantage of the broad knowledge of heterogeneous catalysis from our group, and combine it with a rather new, mechanochemical approach to aim for the best depolymerization efficiency.

Academic career

PhD Candidate 2019- today: PhD Candidate in the group of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis at Utrecht University, the Netherlands Under the supervision of Prof. B.M. Weckhuysen and Dr. Ina Vollmer Master Student 2016-2019: Master degree in Chemistry in the group of physical Chemistry at the technical university of Munich, Germany. Under the supervision of Prof. Ueli Heiz, Dr. Martin Tschurl, Dr. Carla Courtois and Dr. Moritz Eder. Bachelor Student 2013-2016: Bachelor degree in Chemistry in the group of biochemistry and biocatalysis at the technical university of Graz, Austria. Under the supervision of Prof. Peter Macheroux, Dr. Bastian Daniel and Dr. Barbara Konrad

ARC CBBC publications

Green Additives in Chitosan-based Bioplastic Films: Long-term Stability Assessment and Aging Effects

K.B. Schnabl, L.D.B. Mandemaker, Y. Ganjkhanlou, I. Vollmer, and B.M. Weckhuysen

Green Additives in Chitosan-based Bioplastic Films: Physical, Mechanical, and Chemical Properties

K.B. Schnabl, L.D.B. Mandemaker, K.G.J. Nierop, O.V.B. Deen, D.D. Eefting, I. Vollmer, and B.M. Weckhuysen