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M. Abdinejad

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19 records found

Journal article (2026) - Munzir H. Suliman, Muhammad Usman, Husain Al Naji, Maryam Abdinejad, Naimat Ullah, Aasif Helal, Mahmoud M. Abdelnaby, Guillermo Díaz-Sainz, Gabriele Centi
The authors regret that an error occurred in Fig. 2 of the original publication. The data for the Cu-Mel sample were incorrectly assigned due to an inadvertent mistake during data export and figure preparation in Origin, where the dataset corresponding to 5Ag-Cu-Mel was mistakenly used. As the patterns of Cu-Mel and 5Ag-Cu-Mel are very similar, this error was not identified at the time. To verify the results, the Cu-Mel and 5Ag-Cu-Mel samples were re-prepared and measurements were repeated under identical conditions. The new data are consistent with the structural interpretation reported in the manuscript, with only minor variations within normal experimental limits. ...
Journal article (2025) - Muhammad Usman, Munzir H. Suliman, Maryam Abdinejad, Jesse Kok, Hussain Al Naji, Aasif Helal, Zain H. Yamani, Gabriele Centi
Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) based electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction offer unique possibilities for developing advanced materials for this reaction due to their ordered nanoporosity and pore environments, tunable characteristics and high affinity for CO2. Still, they were not investigated sufficiently. In this study, we developed a Bismuth nanodots embedded Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 (BND-ZIF-8) electrocatalyst via a one-pot synthesis method for the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (eCO₂RR). Comprehensive spectroscopic and electrochemical characterization confirmed the successful integration of Bismuth into the ZIF-8 matrix. The electrocatalytic performance of the BND-ZIF-8 was assessed in multiple reactor typologies such as H-cell, flow cell, and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) setups. Remarkable differences in the performances in the three cell configurations are evidenced. Notably, the MEA configuration exhibited a marked enhancement in formate selectivity, achieving a Faradic efficiency (FE) of up to 91 % at a current density of −150 mA cm‒². This work underscores the potential of Bi-ZIF-8 in advancing eCO₂RR while remarking on the crucial importance of the appropriate type of electrocatalytic experiments in assessing the material performance. ...
Journal article (2025) - Munzir H. Suliman, Muhammad Usman, Husain Al Naji, Maryam Abdinejad, Naimat Ullah, Aasif Helal, Mahmoud M. Abdelnaby, Guillermo Díaz-Sainz, Gabriele Centi
Nanocube crystals of bimetallic Ag-Cu-Melamine molecular complexes have been originally developed as effective electrocatalysts for the CO2 selective reduction to multicarbon products, particularly ethylene and ethanol. The bimetallic complex, containing 10 wt.% Ag demonstrates the highest performance in electro-reduction of CO2 in both H-type and flow cells. It achieves a Faradaic efficiency of 70 % for C2 products, with 40 % attributed to ethanol and the remaining to ethylene. These results are obtained at a cathode potential of -1.0 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) with a total current density of -50 mA·cm-2 in the flow cell, five times higher current densities than the current densities in the H-Cell. Without Ag in the complex, only C1 products (CO and formic acid) are detected. The use of the flow cell, in addition to higher current densities, enhances C2 formation, especially ethylene, which is absent in H-type cell experiments. These novel electrocatalysts also exhibit stable performances and provide mechanistic indications of the roles of Ag and tandem cooperation with Cu. ...
Journal article (2024) - Maryam Abdinejad, Amirhossein Farzi, Robin Möller-Gulland, Fokko Mulder, Chengyu Liu, Junming Shao, Jasper Biemolt, Marc Robert, Ali Seifitokaldani, Thomas Burdyny
Molecular catalysts play a significant role in chemical transformations, utilizing changes in redox states to facilitate reactions. To date molecular electrocatalysts have efficiently produced single-carbon products from CO2 but have struggled to achieve a carbon–carbon coupling step. Conversely, copper catalysts can enable carbon–carbon coupling, but lead to broad C2+ product spectra. Here we subvert the traditional redox-mediated reaction mechanisms of organometallic compounds through a heterogeneous nickel-supported iron tetraphenylporphyrin electrocatalyst, facilitating electrochemical carbon–carbon coupling to produce ethanol. This represents a marked behavioural shift compared with carbon-supported metalloporphyrins. Extending the approach to a three-dimensional porous nickel support with adsorbed iron tetraphenylporphyrin, we attain ethanol Faradaic efficiencies of 68% ± 3.2% at −0.3 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode (pH 7.7) with partial ethanol current densities of −21 mA cm−2. Separately we demonstrate maintained ethanol production over 60 h of operation. Further consideration of the wide parameter space of molecular catalyst and metal electrodes shows promise for additional chemistries and achievable metrics. ...
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are ideal platforms to spatially control the integration of multiple molecular motifs throughout a single nanoporous framework. Despite this design flexibility, COFs are typically synthesized using only two monomers. One bears the functional motif for the envisioned application, while the other is used as an inert connecting building block. Integrating more than one functional motif extends the functionality of COFs immensely, which is particularly useful for multistep reactions such as electrochemical reduction of CO2. In this systematic study, we synthesized five Ni(II)- and Zn(II)-porphyrin-based COFs, including two pure component COFs (Ni100 and Zn100) and three mixed Ni/Zn-COFs (Ni75/Zn25, Ni50/Zn50, and Ni25/Zn75). Among these, the Ni50/Zn50-COF exhibited the highest catalytic performance for the electroreduction of CO2 to CO and formate at −0.6 V vs RHE, as was observed in an H-cell. The catalytic performance of the COF catalysts was further extended to a zero-gap membrane electrode assembly (MEA) operation where, utilizing Ni50/Zn50, CH4 was detected along with CO and formate at a high current density of 150 mA cm–2. In contrast, under these conditions predominantly H2 and CO were detected at Ni100 and Zn100 respectively, indicating a clear synergistic effect between the Ni- and Zn-porphyrin units. ...
Bipolar membranes in electrochemical CO2 conversion cells enable different reaction environments in the CO2-reduction and O2-evolution compartments. Under ideal conditions, water-splitting in the bipolar membrane allows for platinum-group-metal-free anode materials and high CO2 utilizations. In practice, however, even minor unwanted ion crossover limits stability to short time periods. Here we report the vital role of managing ionic species to improve CO2 conversion efficiency while preventing acidification of the anodic compartment. Through transport modelling, we identify that an anion-exchange ionomer in the catalyst layer improves local bicarbonate availability and increasing the proton transference number in the bipolar membranes increases CO2 regeneration and limits K+ concentration in the cathode region. Through experiments, we show that a uniform local distribution of bicarbonate ions increases the accessibility of reverted CO2 to the catalyst surface, improving Faradaic efficiency and limiting current densities by twofold. Using these insights, we demonstrate a fully platinum-group-metal-free bipolar membrane electrode assembly CO2 conversion system exhibiting <1% CO2/cation crossover rates and 80-90% CO2-to-CO utilization efficiency over 150 h operation at 100 mA cm−2 without anolyte replenishment. ...

Opportunities and challenges in the synthesis, characterization, and applications

Review (2024) - Muhammad Israr, Muhammad Humayun, Munzir H. Suliman, Maryam Abdinejad, Tahir Rasheed, Aasif Helal, Iltaf Khan, Mohamed Bououdina, Chundong Wang, Muhammad Usman
Nowadays, extensive efforts have been devoted to the fabrication and design of metalbased catalysts with high activity, selectivity, and stability. Theoretical and experimental investigations have empowered the construction of a variety of techniques to tune the catalytic efficiency of catalysts by monitoring their size, morphology, composition, and crystal structure. Multimetal catalysts (MMCs) provide a revolutionary synergistic effect between metals, which is a promising strategy to tune and enhance the catalysts’ productivity and product selectivity. The purpose of this article is to familiarize readers with the most uptodate information regarding the synthesis and classification of MMCs. The key roles of MMCs electrocatalysts in a variety of applications such as CO2 conversion via electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (ECO2RR), H2 evolution reaction (HER), O2 evolution reaction (OER), O2 reduction reaction (ORR), N2 reduction reaction (NRR), methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR), formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR), and urea oxidation reaction (UOR) are summarized. This review also addressed the challenges and prospects for multimetallic catalyst design, characterization, and applications. This review article will provide a clear roadmap for the research and progress of multimetallic catalysts for electrocatalytic applications. ...
Journal article (2023) - Maryam Abdinejad, Tiange Yuan, Keith Tang, Salatan Duangdangchote, Hugo Pieter Iglesias van Montfort, Mengran Li, Joost Middelkoop, Mädchen Wolff, Thomas Burdyny, More authors...
The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to value-added chemicals is a promising strategy to mitigate climate change. Metalloporphyrins have been used as a promising class of stable and tunable catalysts for the electrochemical reduction reaction of CO2 (CO2RR) but have been primarily restricted to single-carbon reduction products. Here, we utilize functionalized earth-abundant manganese tetraphenylporphyrin-based (Mn-TPP) molecular electrocatalysts that have been immobilized via electrografting onto a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to convert CO2 with overall 94 % Faradaic efficiencies, with 62 % being converted to acetate. Tuning of Mn-TPP with electron-withdrawing sulfonate groups (Mn-TPPS) introduced mechanistic changes arising from the electrostatic interaction between the sulfonate groups and water molecules, resulting in better surface coverage, which facilitated higher conversion rates than the non-functionalized Mn-TPP. For Mn-TPP only carbon monoxide and formate were detected as CO2 reduction products. Density-functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm that the additional sulfonate groups could alter the C−C coupling pathway from *CO→*COH→*COH-CO to *CO→*CO-CO→*COH-CO, reducing the free energy barrier of C−C coupling in the case of Mn-TPPS. This opens a new approach to designing metalloporphyrin catalysts for two carbon products in CO2RR. ...
Electrochemical reduction of CO2 presents an attractive way to store renewable energy in chemical bonds in a potentially carbon-neutral way. However, the available electrolyzers suffer from intrinsic problems, like flooding and salt accumulation, that must be overcome to industrialize the technology. To mitigate flooding and salt precipitation issues, researchers have used super-hydrophobic electrodes based on either expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) gas-diffusion layers (GDL’s), or carbon-based GDL’s with added PTFE. While the PTFE backbone is highly resistant to flooding, the non-conductive nature of PTFE means that without additional current collection the catalyst layer itself is responsible for electron-dispersion, which penalizes system efficiency and stability. In this work, we present operando results that illustrate that the current distribution and electrical potential distribution is far from a uniform distribution in thin catalyst layers (~50 nm) deposited onto ePTFE GDL’s. We then compare the effects of thicker catalyst layers (~500 nm) and a newly developed non-invasive current collector (NICC). The NICC can maintain more uniform current distributions with 10-fold thinner catalyst layers while improving stability towards ethylene (≥ 30%) by approximately two-fold. ...
Journal article (2023) - Maryam Abdinejad, Siddhartha Subramanian, Mozhgan Khorasani Motlagh, Davide Ripepi, Donato Pinto, Mengran Li, Joost Middelkoop, Atsushi Urakawa, Thomas Burdyny, More authors...
The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is an attractive method to produce renewable fuel and chemical feedstock using clean energy sources. Formate production represents one of the most economical target products from CO2RR but is primarily produced using post-transition metal catalysts that require comparatively high overpotentials. Here a composition of bimetallic Cu–Pd is formulated on 2D Ti3C2Tx (MXene) nanosheets that are lyophilized into a highly porous 3D aerogel, resulting in formate production much more efficient than post-transition metals. Using a membrane electrode assembly (MEA), formate selectivities >90% are achieved with a current density of 150 mA cm−2 resulting in the highest ever reported overall energy efficiency of 47% (cell potentials of −2.8 V), over 5 h of operation. A comparable Cu-Pd aerogel achieves near-unity CO production without the MXene templating. This simple strategy represents an important step toward the experimental demonstration of 3D-MXenes-based electrocatalysts for CO2RR application and opens a new platform for the fabrication of macroscale aerogel MXene-based electrocatalysts. ...
Review (2023) - Anirban Mukherjee, Maryam Abdinejad, Susanta Sinha Mahapatra, Bidhan Chandra Ruidas
The electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECO2R) is critical to enabling the widespread use of abundant renewable energy sources. However, in order to successfully implement such technologies on an industrial scale, necessary advancement in both the material and molecular design of electrocatalysts is required. In recent years, metal-sulfide (MS)-based nanomaterials have been explored as promising electrocatalysts for ECO2R. This article provides a systematic review of the design and development of MS-based catalysts for ECO2R, including their synthesis, characterization, reaction mechanism, catalytic performance, and strategies for future optimization. The current state-of-the-art MS-based ECO2R catalysts and their technical challenges are outlined herein with the purpose of establishing new guidelines for the rational design of next generation MS-based catalysts for CO2 electroreduction. ...
Journal article (2023) - Roomina Rashid, Maryam Abdinejad, Mozhgan Khorasani Motlagh, Meissam Noroozifar, Heinz Bernhard Kraatz
Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR) product distribution has been found to be dependent on several key factors, such as catalyst surface morphology, stability, and porosity. Metal-modified carbon-based materials have received a lot of attention in CO2RR. However, designing a highly active metal carbon catalyst for CO2RR utilizing low-cost chemical precursors remains a challenge. Here, a series of myristic acid-Phe-Phe peptide (MA-FF) aerogel materials containing graphene oxide (Gox) and Ag nanoparticles have been prepared for electrochemical CO2RR. The morphologies of the composites were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and their surface compositions were determined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). While the peptide aerogel alone showed no catalytic activity for CO2 electroreduction, the addition of Ag nanoparticles results in a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 46% for electroreduction of CO2 to CO at an overpotential of − 0.8 V vs. RHE. Incorporation of Gox in the aerogel increases the FE to 88% and allows CO2 reduction at a lower overpotential of − 0.7 V vs. RHE. Using highly porous peptide aerogels-Gox in addition to the metal active center provides an enhanced and new method for CO2 conversion using low environmental impact bio-based aerogels. ...
Integrating carbon dioxide (CO2) electrolysis with CO2 capture provides exciting new opportunities for energy reductions by simultaneously removing the energy-demanding regeneration step in CO2 capture and avoiding critical issues faced by CO2 gas-fed electrolysers. However, understanding the potential energy advantages of an integrated process is not straightforward due to the interconnected processes which require knowledge of both capture and electrochemical conversion processes. Here, we identify the upper limits of the integrated process from an energy perspective by comparing the working principles and performance of integrated and sequential approaches. Our high-level energy analyses unveil that an integrated electrolyser must show similar performance to the gas-fed electrolyser to ensure an energy benefit of up to 44% versus the sequential route. However, such energy benefits diminish if future gas-fed electrolysers resolve the CO2 utilisation issue and if an integrated electrolyser shows lower conversion efficiencies than the gas-fed system. ...
Conference paper (2022) - Hossain Samar Qorbani, Maryam Abdinejad, Ali Arya, Chris Joslin
Despite the advances made in Virtual Reality (VR) technology, the design of VR experiences lacks sufficient focus on accessibility and inclusion as the primary requirements. These are especially important for STEM education, where engaging in experiential activities is essential. This study was conducted to investigate accessibility considerations in the design and development of Immersive VR (IVR) learning spaces for wheelchair users. The specific research question is: How can we make a VR system easier to interact with for wheelchair users needing vertical movement? A user study with thirty (30) participants in three groups was conducted: Group A (the control group, non-wheelchair users) who used natural body movement to interact with the environment, Group B (verification group, non-wheelchair users) who used software controls for accessibility, and Group C (wheelchair users) who used the same software accessibility feature. The results indicate that the accessibility feature enabled wheelchair users to complete the tasks requiring raising or lowering of the body, with almost similar levels of completion rate and accuracy. ...
Journal article (2022) - Maryam Abdinejad, Mozhgan Khorasani Motlagh, Meissam Noroozifar, Heinz Bernhard Kraatz
Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to valuable materials is a promising approach to suppress atmospheric CO2 levels. In order to bring this strategy to a commercial scale, the design of efficient, cost-effective, and robust catalysts is essential. Current advances in CO2 conversion technology use bimetallic components that enhance electrocatalysis via the introduction of binding site diversity. In this work, Sn-Pd bimetallic aerogels supported by carbon nanotubes (Sn-Pd/CNT) demonstrate selective electroreduction of CO2 to formate in ambient conditions. Amino substituents were introduced as an additional CO2 capture site (Sn-Pd/CNT-NH2), further enhancing the electrocatalytic activity and resulting in 91% formate selectively and a current density of -39 mA cm-2 at -0.4 V vs. RHE. The results demonstrate the potential of alloying Sn with other earth-abundant metals to promote the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to value-added materials. We believe this study provides valuable insights into the intricate relationship of bimetallic aerogels and shows the potential of the -NH2 group as a facilitator for CO2 capture and conversion that will inspire new forays into the development of competitive catalytic systems. ...
Journal article (2022) - Maryam Abdinejad, Keith Tang, Caitlin Dao, Saeed Saedy, Tom Burdyny
The ever-growing level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere, is at once a threat and an opportunity. The development of sustainable and cost-effective pathways to convert CO2 to value-added chemicals is central to reducing its atmospheric presence. Electrochemical CO2 reduction reactions (CO2RRs) driven by renewable electricity are among the most promising techniques to utilize this abundant resource; however, in order to reach a system viable for industrial implementation, continued improvements to the design of electrocatalysts is essential to improve the economic prospects of the technology. This review summarizes recent developments in heterogeneous porphyrin-based electrocatalysts for CO2 capture and conversion. We specifically discuss the various chemical modifications necessary for different immobilization strategies, and how these choices influence catalytic properties. Although a variety of molecular catalysts have been proposed for CO2RRs, the stability and tunability of porphyrin-based catalysts make their use particularly promising in this field. We discuss the current challenges facing CO2RRs using these catalysts and our own solutions that have been pursued to address these hurdles. ...
Review (2022) - Mengran Li, Kailun Yang, Maryam Abdinejad, Chuan Zhao, Thomas Burdyny
Carbon dioxide (CO2) electrolysis is a promising route to utilise captured CO2 as a building block to produce valuable feedstocks and fuels such as carbon monoxide and ethylene. Very recently, CO2 electrolysis has been proposed as an alternative process to replace the amine recovery unit of the commercially available amine-based CO2 capture process. This process would replace the most energy-intensive unit operation in amine scrubbing while providing a route for CO2 conversion. The key enabler for such process integration is to develop an efficient integrated electrolyser that can convert CO2 and recover the amine simultaneously. Herein, this review provides an overview of the fundamentals and recent progress in advancing integrated CO2 conversion in amine-based capture media. This review first discusses the mechanisms for both CO2 absorption in the capture medium and electrochemical conversion of the absorbed CO2. We then summarise recent advances in improving the efficiency of integrated electrolysis via innovating electrodes, tailoring the local reaction environment, optimising operation conditions (e.g., temperatures and pressures), and modifying cell configurations. This review is concluded with future research directions for understanding and developing integrated CO2 electrolysers. ...
The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to value-added materials has received considerable attention. Both bulk transition-metal catalysts and molecular catalysts affixed to conductive noncatalytic solid supports represent a promising approach toward the electroreduction of CO2. Here, we report a combined silver (Ag) and pyridine catalyst through a one-pot and irreversible electrografting process, which demonstrates the enhanced CO2conversion versus individual counterparts. We find that by tailoring the pyridine carbon chain length, a 200 mV shift in the onset potential is obtainable compared to the bare silver electrode. A 10-fold activity enhancement at -0.7 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) is then observed with demonstratable higher partial current densities for CO, indicating that a cocatalytic effect is attainable through the integration of the two different catalytic structures. We extended the performance to a flow cell operating at 150 mA/cm2, demonstrating the approach's potential for substantial adaptation with various transition metals as supports and electrografted molecular cocatalysts. ...
The electrochemical reduction of CO2 (CO2RR) on silver catalysts has been demonstrated under elevated current density, longer reaction times, and intermittent operation. Maintaining performance requires that CO2 can access the entire geometric catalyst area, thus maximizing catalyst utilization. Here we probe the time-dependent factors impacting geometric catalyst utilization for CO2RR in a zero-gap membrane electrode assembly. We use three flow fields (serpentine, parallel, and interdigitated) as tools to disambiguate cell behavior. Cathode pressure drop is found to play the most critical role in maintaining catalyst utilization at all time scales by encouraging in-plane CO2 transport throughout the gas-diffusion layer (GDL) and around salt and water blockages. The serpentine flow channel with the highest pressure drop is then the most failure-resistant, achieving a CO partial current density of 205 mA/cm2 at 2.76 V. These findings are confirmed through selectivity measurements over time, double-layer capacitance measurements to estimate GDL flooding, and transport modeling of the spatial CO2 concentration. ...