Raquel Jiménez Rama was a PhD exchange student from the University of Sevilla, in Spain, who visited our group in 2019 under the supervision of Ainara. In 2021, she returned to the group as a postdoc, and this year she has been awarded the MSCA fellowship for the project entitled TUNEMOF.

TUNEMOF is focused on the development of metallolinker-functionalized MOF catalysts bearing earth-abundant metals (Fe and Mn) for the CO2 hydrogenation to methanol. The research is divided into three different parts: (1) Synthesis, characterization, and testing of earth-abundant metal catalysts supported by linker-based ligands for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol; (2) Synthesis of multivariate (MTV)-MOFs and evaluation of their catalytic activity in CO2 hydrogenation to methanol; (3) Study of the mechanism of CO2 hydrogenation to methanol in MTV-MOF catalysts.

TUNEMOF merges organic/organometallic synthesis and heterogeneous catalysis, along with state-of-the-art characterization techniques and computational methods.

Congratulations Raquel!