UGent: Center for Ordered Materials, Organometallics & Catalysis

General expertise of the research group

The synthesis of new porous materials and their application in heterogeneous catalysis, adsorption and biomedical systems. The Center for Ordered Materials, Organometallics and Catalysis (COMOC) is internationally very renowned for the development of novel porous materials, as adsorbents, heterogeneous catalysts, photocatalysts, electrodes for photocatalysis, electrodes for electrocatalysis, materials for sensing and luminescence. The group typically consists of 1 director (Prof. Pascal Van Der Voort), 5 postdocs, 10-15 PhD students, 5 – 10 undergraduates and visiting PhD students (interns). They are fully equipped for the characterization and testing of the materials.

Specific hydrogen- related expertise & research topics

• Development and synthesis of novel crystalline highly porous materials
• Development and synthesis of highly porous crystalline polymers
• Storage/Separation of gases in highly porous media (MOFs, COFs)
• Hydrogenation reactions
• Photocatalytic total water splitting
• Z-scheme tandem cells for photocatalysis (heterojunctions)
• Electrocatalysis
• Development of COF

Available equipment/tools:

• GC, HPLC, state of the art sorption equipment (high pressure, low pressure, chemisorption, TPD, TPR, TPD), CHNS elemental analysis, FTIR, FT-Raman, dispersive Raman, UV-VIS, electrocatalytic setups, photocatalytic setups, powder XRD, single crystal XRD, …

Participating in FL/B/EU funded projects with H2 related research

• COMOC is active in the Flanders Moonshot Projects on Hydrogen Generation and Hydrogen Storage (MOT-4) with one running project and one project currently being reviewed.

International collaborations:

• COMOC collaborates with the leading international groups on porous materials, heterogeneous catalysis, photo-and electrocatalysis, including prof. Markus Antonietti (MPI-Potsdam), prof. Bettina Lotch (MPIStuttgart), prof. Christian Serre (Versailles), prof. Arne Thomas (TU Berlin), prof. Mietek Jaroniec (Kent State Univ, USA), and many others.

Main relevant publications

1. RESEARCH-ID: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/D-3800-2012
2. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1248-479X
3. GOOGLE SCHOLAR: https://scholar.google.be/citations?user=DdI5E8QAAAAJ&hl=en
4. PUBLONS: https://publons.com/researcher/1309466/pascal-van-der-voort/