Rafael G. Mendes

Postdoctoral researcher
Utrecht University

Department

Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science / Soft Condensed Matter & Biophysics group

Contact information

Room
Leonard S. Ornstein Laboratory – office 1.05

Email address
r.g.mendes@uu.nl

Key expertises

transmission electron microscopy, two-dimensional materials, heterogeneous catalysts, hydrotreating catalysts

About me

Rafael G. Mendes (38 y/o) was born in Barueri, in Brazil, but has been living in Germany for many years. Before he moved to the Netherlands, he lived in Dresden for over 15 years and worked at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, where he specialized in the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials using transmission electron microscopy. Apart from imaging atoms at work, he enjoys reading books, watching sci-fi series, traveling, and playing hockey.

About my research

I will be working for two years as a postdoctoral researcher in the bilateral research program between the Utrecht University and Shell. In this project, the main goal is to characterize hydrotreating catalysts, which are an example of heterogeneous catalysts with an exceptionally complex structure at multiple length scales. The catalysts are composed of a mixed-metal (e.g. Ni/Mo, Co/Mo, Ni/W, Co/W) sulphide phase supported on a porous oxide support (e.g. alumina). This work aims at characterizing NiMoS slabs near atomic resolution in 3D using TEM and their interaction with the alumina support and determining the relative position of Ni and Mo atoms by combining structural and analytical techniques available in TEM.

Academic career

["Postdoctoral experience\n2021-present: Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science\/Soft Condensed Matter group, Utrecht University, Netherlands (under the supervision of Dr. Marijn van Huis and Prof. Alfons van Blaaderen)","Shell Projects and Technology, Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam (under the supervision of Dr. Jovana Ze\u010devi\u0107 and Prof. Thomas Weber) \n\n2018 \u2013 2020: Postdoctoral candidate at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden\/Institute for Complex Materials, Dresden, Germany, under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Gemming\n\n2016 \u2013 2017: School for Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy, Soochow University, Soochow, China, under the supervision of Prof. Mark H. R\u00fcmmeli\n\nPhD candidate\n2010-2014: PhD candidate at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden \/ Institute for Solid State Research, Faculty of Physics\/Dresden Technical University, Germany. Promotor: Prof. Bernd B\u00fcchner\n\nMaster Student\n2007-2009: Master student at the Biotechnology Center \u2013 Dresden Technical University and Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden, Germany"]

ARC CBBC publications

Highly Dispersed ZnO Sites in a ZnO/ZrO2 Catalyst Promote Carbon Dioxide-to-Methanol Conversion

X. Zhang, X. Yu, R. Mendes, P. Matvija, A. Melcherts, C. Sun, X. Ye, B. Weckhuysen, M. Monai