Dr Paramaconi Rodriguez PhD

Dr Paramaconi Rodriguez

Senior Lecturer in Physical Chemistry

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 4365
Email
p.b.rodriquez@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@Para_bham
View my research portal
Address
School of Chemistry
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Paramaconi Rodriguez is Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at UoB since 2012. Between 2012 and 2017, Dr. Rodriguez held the  position of Birmingham Fellow of the School of Chemistry.

He is the group leader for the Advanced Materials and Electrochemistry Research Group.

His research combines standard electrochemical techniques with a variety of spectroscopic techniques, microscopy methods and mass spectrometry to unravel the effect of the surface structure and the role of the interfacial composition on highly relevant oxidation and reduction reactions.

Paramaconi has published more than 60 manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals including high impact factor chemistry journals such as Nature Chemistry, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem and ACS Catalysis. Paramaconi’s work was also highlighted on the cover of PCCP, Nature Chemistry and ChemPhysChem. He is also the co-inventor of two patents.

His research work has been recognized with several fellowships and awards from the International Society of Electrochemistry, the Science National Foundation of Netherlands (NWO) and recently the Birmingham Fellowship.

He has presented over 80 oral presentations, invited and keynote lectures at universities, research institutes and international conferences.

Qualifications

  • Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, 2017
  • Lecturer/Birmingham Research Fellow, School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, November 2012-2017
  • Scientific Officer, Electrochemical Energy Conversion Section, Paul Scherrer Institute, 2011/2012
  • Researcher, Surface Chemistry and Catalysis group. University of Leiden, 2007/2011
  • PhD (CUM LAUDE) in Material Science in the University of Alicante, Spain, 2007
  • Msc in Material science in the University of Alicante, Spain, 2005
  • Degree in Chemistry in the University Simón Bolívar, Venezuela, 2003

Biography

Preparing Platinum nanoparticles with Freddie Mercury and the cathodic corrosion methodIMG 0414
Cathodic corrosion method to prepare alloy nanoparticles
Papa Roro and the Cathodic corrosion method
Cathodic Corrosion: Preparation of HWO4 nanoparticles

Paramaconi Rodríguez was born in Caracas (Venezuela). He studied Chemistry at the University Simón Bolívar in 1997-2003. He combined his degree in chemistry with a 3-years research work on the electrochemical oxidation of phenols on lead-oxide electrodes. Later, he also participated in the study the oxidation of thiophene in microemulsion systems using a rotating pump reactor. Afterwards, he moved to Alicante (Spain) to do his Ph.D with Prof. Juan M. Feliu and Prof Enrique Herrero. He worked on the electrochemical characterization of single-crystal platinum surfaces and platinum nanoparticles using electrochemical tools. During this period Paramaconi performed two research visits, in Guelph (Canada) with Prof. Dr. Jacek Lipkowski and in Bern (Switzerland) with Prof. Dr. David Fermín in Bern. He received his Ph.D degree, Cum-Laude, in April 2007 and he received the prize for the best PhD thesis of the Materials Science and chemistry of the University of Alicante. In October 2007, Paramaconi started his post-doc in Leiden under the supervision of Prof. Marc Koper.

In 2010 Paramaconi Rodríguez has been awarded with a VENI grant for his proposal "Elucidating the catalytic properties of gold by electrochemistry” and in 2011, he recieved the International Society of electrochemistry (ISE) Travel Awards for Young Electrochemists.

He continued his career at the Electrocatalysis and Interfaces group in the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI)  in Switzerland in 2011 and in 2012 moved to the University of Birmingham.

Teaching

Teaching Programmes:

  • Optical Spectroscopy
  • Surface Science
  • Thermodynamics
  • Electrochemistry

Research

RESEARCH THEMES

  • Electrocatalysis
  • CO2 conversion
  • Polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC)
  • Waste water remediation
  • Gold Catalysis
  • Surface structure sensitive reaction
  • Synthesis of metal nanoparticles
  • Li-batteries
  • Biosensors

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

My group’s philosophy is to develop fundamental comprehension of the structure-reactivity relationships of electrode materials and to use this knowledge to design efficient materials for electrochemical energy conversion.

Other activities

ORGANIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

  • Co-organizer of the Electrochem 2017, Birmingham, UK.
  • Organizer of the Fifth Annual Symposium on Nanotechnology, 2015, Birmingham, UK.
  • Co-Organizer of the Fuel cell Symposium at the Material Research Society Fall Meeting 2014, Boston, US.

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

  • Peer-reviewed associate and college member of the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, UK government agency for funding research.
  • Royal Society of Chemistry.
  • Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry.
  • International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE).

Publications

Selected Recent Publications:

  1. M.L Kromer, J. Monzo, M. J. Lawrence, A.Kolodziej, Z.T Gossage, B. H Simpson, S. Morandi, A.Yanson, J.Rodríguez-López, P.Rodríguez. “High-Throughput Preparation of Metal Oxide Nanocrystals by Cathodic Corrosion and Their Use as Active Photocatalysts”, Langmuir 33,2017, 13295.
  2. CS Le Duff, MJ Lawrence, P Rodriguez. “Role of the Adsorbed Oxygen Species in the Selective Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Alcohols and Carbonyls on Copper Electrodes” Angew. Chem.Int Ed. 129 ,2017, 13099.
  3. E. Bennett, J. Monzó, J.J.L. Humphrey, D. Plana, M. Walker, C. Francis McConville, D.J. Fermin, A.Yanson and P.Rodriguez. “A Synthetic Route for an Effective Preparation of Metal Alloy Nanoparticles and Its Use as Active Electrocatalyst.” ACS Catal. 6 (2016): 1533.
  4. J. Monzó, Y. Malewski, R. Kortlever, F.J. Vidal‐Iglesias, J. Solla‐Gullon, M.T.M. Koper and P. Rodriguez. “Enhanced electrocatalytic activity of Au@ Cu core@shell nanoparticles towards CO 2 reduction.” J. Mater. Chem. A. 3 (2015): 23690.
  5. P.Rodriguez, D.Plana, D.J. Fermin and M.T.M. Koper. “New insights into the catalytic activity of gold nanoparticles for CO oxidation in electrochemical media” J.of Catalysis 311 (2014): 182.
  6. W.Liu, P. Rodriguez, L.Borchardt, A.Foelske, J.Yuan, A-K.Herrmann, D. Geiger, Z. Zheng, S. Kaskel, N.Gaponik, R. Kötz, T.J. Schmidt and A. Eychmüller. “Bimetallic Aerogels: High‐Performance Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 52 (2013): 9849.
  7. J. Monzo, M.T.M Koper and P. Rodriguez. “Removing polyvinylpyrrolidone from catalytic Pt nanoparticles without modification of superficial order”. ChemPhysChem 13 (2012): 709. -Front cover-
  8. P. Rodriguez, Y. Kwon and M.T.M. Koper. “The promoting effect of adsorbed carbon monoxide on the oxidation of alcohols on a gold catalyst.” Nature Chemistry 4 (2012): 177. -Front cover-
  9. P. Rodriguez, A.I. Yanson, F.D. Tichelaar and M.T.M. Koper. “Cathodic corrosion as a facile and effective method to prepare clean metal alloy nanoparticles.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133 (2011): 17626.
  10. Y. Kwon, S.C.S. Lai, P. Rodriguez and M.T.M. Koper. “Electrocatalytic oxidation of alcohols on gold in alkaline media: base or gold catalysis?.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133 (2011): 6914.
  11. P. Rodriguez, A.A. Koverga, and M.T.M. Koper. “Carbon monoxide as a promoter for its own oxidation on a gold electrode.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 49 (2010): 1241.
  12. M. Duca, M.O. Cucarella, P. Rodriguez and M.T.M. Koper. “Direct reduction of nitrite to N2 on a Pt (100) electrode in alkaline media.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132 (2010): 18042-18044.

For a full list, please visit Para's Google Scholar page.

View all publications in research portal