On March 23, 2023, EDL employee Dr. Dominik Wielend enjoyed a special honor. In a ceremony, he received together with four other graduates of Johannes Kepler University Linz the highest award for outstanding academic success in Austria from the Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen: the Promotio sub auspiciis Praesidentis rei publicae.

Dr. Dominik Wielend did his doctorate on the topic "Electrochemical H₂O₂ production using immobilized organic catalysts". Over many years of research work, he dealt with the conversion of electrical energy and oxygen into hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) using purely organic electrocatalysts. This topic is particularly relevant for the chemical industry, since on the one hand H₂O₂ is an important basic chemical. On the other hand, organic (= metal-free) electrocatalysts are very interesting in terms of price, since current electrolyzers are often dependent on more expensive noble metals.

We rejoice at this great success and offer Dr. Wielend our sincere congratulations.

At EDL, Dr. Dominik Wielend combines the CO₂ topic from his master thesis with the materials of his PhD thesis to master the technological scale-up from basic research to application. For this purpose, a pilot plant for the electrochemical separation of CO₂ (Direct Air Capture - DAC) is currently being set up together with research partners. The aim of the pilot plant is to transfer the knowledge gained to a larger scale and thus take an important step towards the much-debated decarbonization.

We wish Dr. Wieland all the best and much success in his work.