Thanks to the generous support of 1.3M€ funding from the Italian ERC call "Fondo Italiano per la Scienza" (FIS) of the Italian Ministry of University and Research, we currently have 4 funded positions for Ph.D. students.
DEADLINE 13th of MAY 2025 APPLICATION CALL link
The Ph.D. program focus on the design, synthesis, and characterization of inorganic complexes and organic/inorganic photoluminescent materials, and their application as novel homo- and hetero-geneous catalytic systems for the photocatalytic semi-hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene.
Ethylene, a key commodity chemical and starting material for ∼60% of all plastics, is commonly obtained by steam cracking together with ∼1 vol% acetylene impurity (poisonous to polymerization catalysts), which is usually removed by thermal hydrogenation.
The new catalytic platforms will have the following advantages over the present thermal hydrogenation technology in industry:
(i) operation at room temperature using light in place of high temperatures;
(ii) use of water in place of an external hydrogen gas feed;
(iii) non-noble metal catalysts in place of nobel metal (Pd) catalysts.
Our lab is associated with the Ph.D programs in Molecular Sciences and Materials Science & Technology at the University of Padova.
Available FUNDED Ph.D. POSITIONS - STARTING DATE is 1st of November 2025:
2 funded Ph.D. positions for the Ph.D program in Molecular Sciences at the University of Padova.
2 funded Ph.D. positions for the Ph.D program in Materials Science & Technology at the University of Padova.
APPLICATION DEADLINE is 13th of May 2025
Candidates must submit their application to the respective Ph.D. schools (application call link is below) and not directly to e-mail, although you can contact us (ahead of the deadline - around April) if you would like information (francesca.arcudi<at>unipd.it).
Please have look at our latest works if you would like to know more:
Stone, A.; Fortunato, A.; Wang, X.; Saggioro, E.; Snurr, R.; Hupp, J.*; Arcudi, F.* (corr. author); Đorđević, L.*; "Photocatalytic Semi-Hydrogenation of Acetylene to Polymer-Grade Ethylene with Molecular and Metal-Organic Framework Cobaloximes" Adv. Mater. 2025, 37, 2408658. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202408658
Fortunato, A,; Perilli, D.; Dron, A.; Celorrio, V.; Dražić, G.; Ðorđević, L.; Calvillo, L.; Di Valentin, C.; Arcudi, F.* (corr. author); "Selective semi-hydrogenation of acetylene using a single-atom cobalt on carbon nitride photocatalyst with water as a proton source" Chemrxiv, in revision, 2025. doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-1v585.
Stone, A.; Ðorđević, L.; Stupp, S. I.; Weiss, E. A.; Arcudi, F.* (corr. author); Hupp, J. T.* "Selective Photocatalytic Reduction of Acetylene to Ethylene Powered by a Cobalt-Porphyrin Metal–Organic Framework" ACS Energy Lett. 2023, 8, 11, 4684–4693. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.3c01995
Arcudi, F.; Ðorđević, L.; Schweitzer, N.; Stupp, S. I.; Weiss, E. A. "Selective visible-light photocatalysis of acetylene to ethylene using a cobalt molecular catalyst and water as a proton source" Nat. Chem. 2022, 14, 1007-1012. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-022-00966-5