16 Feb 2024
On a mission to develop sustainable catalysts using synchrotron-based methods.
In this series of interviews, you will meet the WISE Fellows. This time you will meet Uta Hejral, who has joined Chalmers University as an Assistant Professor. You will also be able to find out more about their research here.
Catalysts play an important role in the industrial production of materials. More than 90 % of all industrial chemicals are produced with the help of catalysts. Therefore, the chemical industry in general would benefit greatly from the development of more efficient and abundant catalyst materials that allow more energy-saving processes according to Assistant Prof. Uta Hejral.
Joining Chalmers
Uta joined Chalmers University in September this year. She did her PhD at DESY (Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron) in Hamburg and co-pioneered the development of a surface x-ray diffraction technique for the structure determination of model catalyst nanoparticles and surfaces at work. During her first postdoc at Lund University, she combined this method with other operando techniques. She did her second postdoc at the Fritz-Haber Institute in Berlin. There she focused on the study of catalytic reactions that are essential for a sustainable society, such as water splitting or CO2 hydrogenation into the fuel methanol.
Sustainability aspects
– My research paves the way for taking direct action against climate change, which is one of the biggest challenges of today’s society. We aim at facilitating energy storage in form of molecules to compensate for downtimes in energy production of renewable energy systems, as well as at identifying ways to convert greenhouse gases like CO2 and CH4, says Assistant Prof. Hejral.
– Photovoltaic plants or wind farms are other areas where I see my research being implemented. There they can use the electricity gained with the help of solar and wind power to drive on-site electrolysis to store energy in the form of green hydrogen, says Assistant Prof. Hejral.
-When starting your own research group in materials science related research, I think that it is fantastic to be part of WISE and such a network and I believe together we can really make an impact, which is very inspiring, concludes Assistant Prof. Hejral.
24 Apr 2024
Peter got his PhD degree in applied physics from Linköping university in the 90’s. After getting his degree he worked for 28 years in industry and at research institutes, mainly with thin film processes for electronic devices.
19 Apr 2024
In a scientific breakthrough, researchers have successfully produced a sheet of gold that is only one atomic layer thick: goldene. The discovery stems from a collaborative effort from Linköping University, including Professor Lars Hultman and Professor Johanna Rosén, both WISE researchers. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Synthesis.
19 Apr 2024
WISE will be investing up to 90 million SEK over the course of the entire program period (2022-2033) in the WISE Guest Professor program.
Picture taken by Peter Holgersson.
10 Apr 2024
WISE researcher, Maryna Pankratova, based at Uppsala University is organizing an engaging seminar series titled “Machine Learning meets Materials Science”. This initiative is connected to the WISE-WASP project call.
9 Apr 2024
Erica Zeglio: looking at ways to simplify and increase the sustainability of materials and fabrication processes for organic bioelectronics.
5 Apr 2024
Paula Sebastian Pasqual: a material scientist passionate about developing copper catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction.
2 Apr 2024
WISE takes pride in featuring our distinguished researchers, and this time we are happy to introduce Glib Baryshnikov, Assistant Professor in the Laboratory of Organic Electronics (LOE) at Linköping University.
20 Mar 2024
As the former chair of the WISE board and the current executive director of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Sara Mazur reflects on the achievements of WISE and contemplates the future challenges that lie ahead.
19 Mar 2024
The successful event took part at Clarion Hotel Post 14-15 March in Gothenburg and had an encouraging attendance from academia and industry with over 200 participants.
19 Mar 2024
-This conference is of special interest for WISE researchers that work with developing sustainable materials and materials for environmental remediation because the detection and characterisation of hazardous chemicals will be of focus here, explains Anneli Kruve, Associate Professor at Stockholm University and WISE researcher.
13 Mar 2024
Professor Anders Nilsson is one of the prominent speakers at the WISE Dialogue in Gothenburg, Sweden on 14-15 March. He recently returned from the United States, where he was honored with the Earle K. Plyler Prize from the American Physical Society for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics.
12 Mar 2024
Eva is the vice President of Materials & Package at Tetra Pak and will talk about material innovation and research.
11 Mar 2024
WISE is proud to announce the first Summer School on Additive Manufacturing. The school is organized by the WISE Additive Research and Technology Platform, involving all three nodes – Uppsala University, Chalmers University of Technology, and Linköping University.
7 Mar 2024
Linnea is the Manager for Sustainable Material Strategy within Volvo Cars’ Global Sustainability Team
6 Mar 2024
Originally from Germany, Associate Professor Ute Cappel has spent most of her academic career between the United Kingdom and Sweden. Now, she is back in Sweden and has recently started a new position as WISE Fellow at Uppsala University. Scheduled to present her research at the upcoming WISE Dialogue on March 14-15, Dr. Cappel brings a wealth of expertise on solar cells to the Dialogue.
27 Feb 2024
We are happy to introduce Annika Ölme, one of our speakers at the WISE Dialogue conference, March 14-15.
26 Feb 2024
The climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time and it is more urgent than ever to develop sustainable materials fast.
24 Feb 2024
The WISE Dialogue is well known for featuring distinguished speakers. Among the esteemed speakers at this year’s event is Dr. Andrea Taroni, Director of Submissions and Author Services at Springer Nature.
19 Feb 2024
WISE has recently announced the second call (ip2) for industrial PhD and postdoctoral research projects. We are now inviting industry representatives and principal investigators of the WISE partner universities to information webinars.
15 Feb 2024
In a recent article in the journal of Advanced Science, Erica Zeglio, a WISE Fellow at Stockholm University, alongside colleagues from the Royal Institute of technology and Stockholm University, achieved ground-breaking precision patterning of polymers at the microscale using high-throughput femtosecond direct laser writing.
13 Feb 2024
WISE is very proud to have outstanding professors participating in the program. In this occasion we are happy to introduce Assistant Professor Nara Kim at Linköping University.
Picture taken by Thor Balkhed at Linköping University.
13 Feb 2024
It is soon time for our second WISE Dialogue. This annual event is devoted to the WISE community, as well as representatives from industry and society, and will take place in Gothenburg on March 14-15.
12 Feb 2024
Tetra Pak and Lund University explore ways to reduce carbon footprint of packaging materials.
8 Feb 2024
In a recent Correspondence to Nature Materials, WISE-affiliated researchers urge scholars to expand the envelope of sustainability and circularity in Materials Science research with a systematic perspective.
6 Feb 2024
WISE-affiliated researchers at Linköping University demonstrated a new, more environmentally friendly way to create conductive inks that can be used to manufacture organic electronics such as solar cells, artificial neurons, and soft sensors.
Picture taken by Thor Balkhed, Linköping University.
22 Jan 2024
In the study published in Nature, two fields of intense study – 2D materials and correlated electron behavior – have found a direct contact point with a newly identified material: CeSiI.
12 Jan 2024
WISE is now investing 500 MSEK for equipment and infrastructure at seven universities in Sweden to establish a national infrastructure for sustainable materials reseach.
Picture taken by Thor Balkhed, Linköping university.
8 Jan 2024
Sven Stafström is the new Chair of the WISE board from January 1, this year. He succeeds Sara Mazur who has served as Chair of the WISE board since 2021.
Picture taken by Johanna Hanno
18 Dec 2023
On December 5-6, 2023, PhDs and Postdocs within WISE participated in a study trip to the south of Sweden, organized by WISE graduate school. On this very first WISE study trip, we visited Stena Recycling, MAX IV, NanoLund.
11 Dec 2023
WISE is opening a second industrial project call in 2024. Up to 16 projects will be financed by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, with project start in mid-2025.