The CIDETEC award recognizes Dr. Rodriguez’s recently published article “The promoting effect of adsorbed carbon monoxide on the oxidation of alcohols on a gold catalyst” which is featured on the cover of Nature Chemistry in 2012.
Even though gold had been known since 1965 as an electrochemically active material for the oxidation of carbon monoxide, and despite the extensive research in this field, at the time of Dr. Rodriguez’s publication, the catalytic nature of gold catalysts remained undetermined. In the article, Dr. Rodriguez and his co-authors demonstrate the extraordinary and unexpected capacity of gold electrocatalysts to adsorb CO irreversibly and to act as a promoter of the oxidation of alcohols in aqueous alkaline media, methanol in particular.
The award ceremony will take place in July at the annual meeting of the General Assembly of the Specialized Electrochemical Group to be held in Valencia, Spain.