Rate My Professor Uta Hejral

Uta Hejral serves as Assistant Professor in Chemical Physics at Chalmers University of Technology's Department of Physics, a position she assumed in autumn 2023. Originally from Germany, she pursued studies in physics alongside English literature and linguistics at the University of Stuttgart and Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. Her diploma thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart introduced her to synchrotron radiation and catalysis research, focusing on platinum nanoparticles analyzed via X-ray diffraction. She completed her PhD at the University of Stuttgart in May 2010. Subsequently, Hejral conducted postdoctoral research at Lund University from 2016 to 2020 and served as a postdoc at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society's Department of Interface Science in Berlin from 2020 to 2023. Earlier roles included time at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and a visiting period at Queen's University.

As a WISE fellow in the Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability, Hejral leads efforts to advance catalyst materials for sustainable industrial processes. Her expertise lies in operando characterization of model catalysts—such as epitaxially grown nanoparticles, single crystal surfaces, and size-selected powders—under realistic conditions using synchrotron-based methods including surface X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at facilities like MAX IV and Petra III at DESY. Her research addresses key challenges in the energy transition: CO2 hydrogenation to methanol, methane activation and CO2 hydrogenation, water splitting for green hydrogen production, and oxygen evolution reactions, prioritizing abundant metals like nickel, cobalt, iron, and Fe-doped nickel to enhance efficiency, stability, and reduce reliance on precious metals. She heads a research group including postdoc Fanny Duquet, PhD students Felix Simon and Roberto Dore—who works on high-pressure gas-phase catalysis—and collaborates with senior lecturer Lars Hellberg on ultra-high vacuum equipment. Notable publications include "Tracking the shape-dependent sintering of platinum–rhodium model catalysts under operando conditions" (Nature Communications, 2016), "High energy surface x-ray diffraction applied to model catalyst surfaces at work" (Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 2021), "Structure–function relationship for CO2 methanation over ceria supported Rh and Ni catalysts" (Catalysis Science & Technology, 2019), and "Steering the structure and selectivity of CO2 electroreduction catalysts by potential pulses" (Nature Catalysis, 2022, 420 citations). Her scholarship has amassed over 2,000 citations, contributing substantially to catalysis science for decarbonization and sustainability.