Regina Palkovits

Prof. Regina Palkovits is a Full Professor of Heterogeneous Catalysis & Chemical Technology at RWTH Aachen University's Institute of Chemical Technology & Macromolecular Chemistry (ITMC). She serves as Acting Director of ITMC since 2015 and holds a Max Planck Fellowship at the MPI for Chemical Energy Conversion (since 2019). Her research focuses on sustainable catalytic processes for renewable energy and biomass conversion, including photocatalytic CO2 reduction, electrochemical water splitting, and biorefinery pathways. Key projects involve developing solid molecular catalysts, immobilized heteropolyacids, and single-atom catalysts on covalent triazine frameworks. Palkovits leads a research group with ongoing projects in catalytic hydrogenation, bio-based tandem reactions, and hydrogen production technologies.

Education:

• Diploma in Chemical Engineering, Technical University Dortmund (1998–2003)
• PhD, Max Planck Institute for Coal Research (2003–2006)
• Postdoc, Utrecht University (2007)
• Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Coal Research (2008–2010)

Research Interests: Palkovits’ work bridges heterogeneous catalysis and materials innovation to address global challenges. Key areas include:

• Electrochemical hydrogen production and water splitting
• Biomass conversion to platform chemicals (e.g., xylitol)
• CO2-to-fuel processes using photocatalytic systems
• Immobilized catalyst design for recyclability and stability

Awards:

• Max Planck Fellow (2019)
• EFCATS Young Researcher Award (2019)
• DECHEMA Award (2017)
• Robert Bosch Junior Professorship (2010)
• Hendrik Casimir–Karl Ziegler Award (2006)

Grants & Collaborations: Active in interdisciplinary projects with MPI-CEC and Hamburg University. Her group seeks students for research in catalytic hydrogenolysis, electrochemical conversions, and biorefinery pathways.

Labs/Teams: Leads the “Solid Molecular Catalysts” group, focusing on sustainable chemical processes and material synthesis for green energy applications.