Prof. Maricruz Sánchez

Prof. Maricruz Sánchez

The Department of Chemical Engineering has a new full professor, starting 1st October! On behalf of FemChem, we would like to extend a warm welcome to her. In the following, we would like to shortly introduce her to you:

Maricruz Sánchez was born in Granada, Spain, where she studied Chemical Engineering. She moved to the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry in Madrid for her PhD studies. The topic of her dissertation was green hydrogen production by ethanol steam reforming over supported nickel catalysts. In 2010 she joined as postdoctoral fellow the department of Inorganic Chemistry of the Fritz-Haber-Institut in Berlin, where her research focused on selective oxidation catalysts for functionalization of alkanes. Since 2012 she has been Assistant Professor at the Technical University of Munich, where she completed her Habilitation in Technical Chemistry in 2020. In October 2021 she will join TU Wien Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering as Full Professor of Chemical Engineering.

Maricruz Sánchez’ current research in nano-tailored materials with catalytic functions has a two-fold objective: i) achieving a fundamental understanding of the catalytic mechanisms on surfaces, and ii) generating novel catalysts that enable carbon neutral production of essential chemicals and fuels. She has worked with metal oxides, acid zeolites and the combination of metal ions hosted in zeolites. Unravelling the catalytic properties of these materials requires a multidisciplinary approach and collaborations between experts in reaction kinetics, material synthesis, cutting-edge spectroscopies, atomic resolution electron microscopy and advanced methods for theoretical calculations. Her work has led to over 45 publications in international renowned journals, 5 patent applications and several public and industry funded projects. She received the Jochen Block Prize from the German Catalysis Society in 2017 for her outstanding career as young researcher in the field of catalysis.

Maricruz Sánchez loves music, books and travelling although her two children born in 2016 and 2018 have lately left her little time for these hobbies. To escape from the daily stress of a working mum she likes running and yoga. During college she used to attend drama classes and perfomed in amateur impro matches. She still loves watching theater plays.