Prof. Dr. Beatriz Roldán Cuenya
- Section Chemistry
- Location Berlin, Germany
- Election year 2024
Research
Research Priorities: Physical chemistry, catalysis and electrochemistry, operando spectroscopy and microscopy, surface and interface science
Beatriz Roldán Cuenya is a Spanish physicist. She researches and optimises catalytic materials, which play a key role in energy conversion. Her work at the interface between physics and chemistry combines precise, controlled synthetic processes with a thorough characterisation of materials. She uses innovative methods, such as operando spectroscopy and microscopy, to investigate chemical reactions directly on surfaces. These methods allow her to understand the basic mechanisms that determine the activity, selectivity, and stability of catalysts.
Her most important contributions include the development of model catalysts, which are produced with help from colloid chemistry and electrochemical synthesis. This allowed her to create catalysts that possess much greater efficiency and chemical selectivity. A particular focus is on bridging the fields of thermal catalysis and electrocatalysis using a surface science approach.
An additional focus is the use of plasma technologies for the targeted modification of nanomaterials. These technologies make it possible to precisely manage the chemical functionalisation, defect density, and nanostructure of materials. Consequently, surface properties as well as the electronic structure of catalysts can be optimised, which leads to improved catalytic performance. Using operando spectroscopy, she studies the transformation of catalyst materials during chemical reactions. These insights are key in understanding how active catalytic phases form and develop.
Beatriz Roldán Cuenya’s research results help in the development of efficient catalysts that can be used, for example, to convert CO2, in hydrogen production, or in the manufacture of new materials. Above all, however, they deepen the understanding of the profound changes that catalyst materials undergo during chemical reaction.
Beatriz Roldán Cuenya is a Spanish physicist. She researches and optimises catalytic materials, which play a key role in energy conversion. Her work at the interface between physics and chemistry combines precise, controlled synthetic processes with a thorough characterisation of materials. She uses innovative methods, such as operando spectroscopy and microscopy, to investigate chemical reactions directly on surfaces. These methods allow her to understand the basic mechanisms that determine the activity, selectivity, and stability of catalysts.
Her most important contributions include the development of model catalysts, which are produced with help from colloid chemistry and electrochemical synthesis. This allowed her to create catalysts that possess much greater efficiency and chemical selectivity. A particular focus is on bridging the fields of thermal catalysis and electrocatalysis using a surface science approach.
An additional focus is the use of plasma technologies for the targeted modification of nanomaterials. These technologies make it possible to precisely manage the chemical functionalisation, defect density, and nanostructure of materials. Consequently, surface properties as well as the electronic structure of catalysts can be optimised, which leads to improved catalytic performance. Using operando spectroscopy, she studies the transformation of catalyst materials during chemical reactions. These insights are key in understanding how active catalytic phases form and develop.
Beatriz Roldán Cuenya’s research results help in the development of efficient catalysts that can be used, for example, to convert CO2, in hydrogen production, or in the manufacture of new materials. Above all, however, they deepen the understanding of the profound changes that catalyst materials undergo during chemical reaction.
Career
- since 2023 Interim Director, Department “Inorganic Chemistry”, Fritz Haber Institute (FHI), Max Planck Society (MPG), Berlin, Germany
- since 2017 Director, Department “Interface Science”, FHI, MPG, Berlin, Germany
- 2013-2017 Professor, Institute of Experimental Physics, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Bochum, Germany
- 2012-2013 Professor, Department of Physics, University of Central Florida (UCF), Orlando, USA
- 2008-2012 Associate Professor, Department of Physics, UCF, Orlando, USA
- 2004-2008 Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, UCF, Orlando, USA
- 2001-2003 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
- 2001 Doctorate, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
- 1998 Master’s Degree in Physics, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
Functions
- since 2024 Member, Advisory Committee, CANSTOREnergy, Toronto, Canada
- since 2024 Member, Advisory Committee, Carbon Science and Technology Institute (INCAR), Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain
- since 2023 Member, Advisory Committee, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA), CSIC, Madrid, Spain
- since 2023 Member, Advisory Committee, Prisma Forum, Federal Ministry of
- Education and Research (BMBF), Germany
- since 2023 Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Química del Nalón S.A., Spain
- 2021-2024 Member, Elisabeth Schiemann Kolleg, MPG, Berlin
- 2021-2024 Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), Barcelona, Spain
- since 2021 Member, External Advisory Board, UK Catalysis Hub, UK
- since 2021 Member, Research Board, BESSY II, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Berlin, Germany
- since 2020 Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), Tarragona, Spain
- since 2020 Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LISA) Hub, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, USA
- 2019-2029 Member, Ertl Center for Electrochemistry & Catalysis, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, South Korea
- 2019-2023 Member, Scientific Council, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
- since 2019 Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Chemical Reviews Journal
- since 2019 Chairperson, Advisory Committee, ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
- since 2019 Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC CBBC), Utrecht, the Netherlands
- 2018-2022 Associate Editor, ACS Catalysis
- since 2018 Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Catalysis
- 2011-2021 Member, Advisory Committee, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy, USA
- 2010-2018 Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Surface Science
- 2009-2012 Elected Member, Executive Committee, Surface Science Division, American Vacuum Society (AVS), USA
- 2005-2010 Associate Editor, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology
Projects
- since 2024 Co-Investigator, Project “NSF-DFG MISSION: Comprehensive Operando Analysis of Electrolyte-Solid Interface Dynamics for Enhanced Electrocatalytic CO2 Conversion”, German Research Foundation (DFG), Germany, and National Science Foundation (NSF), USA
- 2022-2025 Member, Board, Priority Programme (PP) 2080 “DynaCat”, DFG, Germany
- 2022-2025 Co-Applicant, Subproject “Selectivity Control under Dynamic CO2 Electroreduction Conditions”, (PP) 2080 “DynaCat”, DFG, Germany
- since 2023 Principal Investigator, Project “Hydrogen taken further: Thin-Film Catalysts for one Sustainable Chemistry with Renewable Energies”, Collaborative Project “CatLab”, BMBF, Germany
- since 2022 Principal Investigator, Collaborative Project “ZnH2: Zinc to Hydrogen”, BMBF, Germany
- since 2022 Principal Investigator, Collaborative Project “ReveAL: Reversible alkaline-acid bipolar fuel cell”, BMBF, Germany
- since 2019 Principal Investigator, Cluster of Excellence (EXC) 2008 “Unifying Systems in Catalysis (UniSysCat)”, DFG, Germany
- 2019-2024 Co-Applicant, Project “Electrochemical catalyst-support interactions (CSI) of oxide-supported oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts and their impact on catalyst activity and corrosion stability”, DFG, Germany
- since 2018 Project Head, Subproject “Liquid plasma electrochemistry: activating catalytic surfaces and driving electrochemical transformations of plasma-activated species”, Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1316, DFG, Germany
- since 2018 Project Head, Subproject “Surface Reactivity of Model Oxide Catalysts”, Transregio (TRR) 247, DFG, Germany
- 2017-2023 Principal Investigator, Consolidator Award “In situ and Operando Nanocatalysis: Size, Shape and Chemical State Effects”, Horizon 2020, European Research Council (ERC)
- 2015 Project Head, Project “Ultrahigh vacuum system for synthesis and chemical surface characterization of nanosized and thin film materials”, DFG, Germany
Honours and Memberships
since 2024 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
2024 Margarita Salas Award, Margarita Salas Foundation, and Association of Spanish Researchers in Sweden, Madrid, Spain
2023 Manchot Research Professorship, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany
2023 BASF Physical Chemistry Lectureship, University California, Berkeley, USA
2023 Asturiana del mes (Asturian Personality of the Month), La Nueva España, Oviedo, Spain
2022 Faraday Medal, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), UK
2022 Roentgen Medal, City of Remscheid, Germany
2022 Paul H. Emmett Award, North American Catalysis Society (NACS), USA
2021 Fellow, AVS, USA
2021 ISE Elsevier Prize for Applied Electrochemistry, International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE)
since 2020 Member, Academia Europaea
2020 Zhang Dayu Lectureship Award, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), Dalian, China
2020 Lectureship Award, Netherlands Center for Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversion (MCEC), Utrecht, the Netherlands
2020 Distinguished Speaker Award, Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering (IMSE), Imperial College London, London, UK
2016 Fellow, Max Planck Society, Germany
2009 Research Incentive Award, UCF, Orlando, USA
2009 Peter Mark Memorial Award, AVS, USA
2005 NSF-CAREER Award, NSF, USA