Ferdi Schüth, Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany, is awarded the Alwin Mittasch Prize 2025 from the German Society for Catalysis (GeCatS) for his outstanding contributions to catalysis research.
The prize is awarded for exceptional research work that has led to a deeper understanding or an expansion of the fundamentals of catalysis and its industrial applications. The award is endowed with EUR 10,000 and supported by BASF SE. It was presented at the 58th annual meeting of German catalysis researchers (58. Jahrestreffen Deutscher Katalytiker) in Weimar, Germany, on March 13, 2025.
Ferdi Schüth’s research focusses on heterogeneous catalysis, particularly in catalytic materials. His work laid the foundation for numerous innovations, such as nanostructured catalysts with controlled porosity and precise placement of functional units for applications including biomass conversion, methane activation, and fuel cell catalysis. In mechanocatalysis, he achieved ammonia synthesis at room temperature and atmospheric pressure using a mechanocatalytic approach. Additionally, he was a pioneer in high-throughput experimentation (HTE) using modern methods, which led to the founding of hte GmbH in 1999 which is now part of BASF.
Career
Ferdi Schüth studied chemistry and law at the University of Münster, Germany, and received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Münster in 1988 under the supervision of Ewald Wicke. He passed the First State Examination in law in 1989. He served as a postdoctoral researcher with Lanny D. Schmidt at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, USA, until 1989. Schüth worked on his habilitation at the University of Mainz, Germany, from 1989 to 1995, with a stint as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, in 1993. He joined the University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1995 as Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry. In 1998, Ferdi Schüth joined the MPI for Coal Research as Director and group leader.
He has held numerous prestigious positions, including Vice President of the German Research Foundation (DFG) until 2014, Vice President of the Max Planck Society until 2020, and Chair of the jury for the German President’s Future Prize from 2013 to 2022.
Among many other honors, Ferdi Schüth has received the Wilhelm Exner Medal (2024), the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) in 2003, the Wilhelm Klemm Prize from the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society) in 2012, the Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Prize in 2014. He is an Elected Member of the German National Academy of Science Leopoldina and of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts (Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste).
Selected Publications
- Hydrogenation of different carbon substrates into light hydrocarbons by ball milling,
Linfeng Li, Olena Vozniuk, Zhengwen Cao, Pit Losch, Michael Felderhoff, Ferdi Schüth,
Nature Communications 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40915-5 - Differentiating between Acidic and Basic Surface Hydroxyls on Metal Oxides by Fluoride Substitution: A Case Study on Blue TiO2 from Laser Defect Engineering,
Kinran Lau, Felix Niemann, Kaltum Abdiaziz, Markus Heidelmann, Yuke Yang, Yujin Tong, Michael Fechtelkord, Torsten C. Schmidt, Alexander Schnegg, R. Kramer Campen, Baoxiang Peng, Martin Muhler, Sven Reichenberger, Stephan Barcikowski,
Angew. Chem. In. Ed. 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202213968 - Scalable Synthesis of Multi‐Metal Electrocatalyst Powders and Electrodes and their Application for Oxygen Evolution and Water Splitting,
Ieva A. Cechanaviciute, Rajini P. Antony, Olga A. Krysiak, Thomas Quast, Stefan Dieckhöfer, Sascha Saddeler, Pascal Telaar, Yen‐Ting Chen, Martin Muhler, Wolfgang Schuhmann,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202218493 - Aerobic oxidative lactonization of diols at room temperature over defective titanium-based oxides in water,
Duoyue Tang, Zewen Shen, Sebastian Lechler, Guilong Lu, Ling Yao, Yezi Hu, Xiubing Huang, Martin Muhler, Guixia Zhao, Baoxiang Peng,
J. Catal. 2023, 418, 237–246.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2023.01.025 - Co@Co3O4 Encapsulated in Carbon Nanotube-Grafted Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Polyhedra as an Advanced Bifunctional Oxygen Electrode,
Arshad Aijaz, Justus Masa, Christoph Rösler, Wei Xia, Philipp Weide, Alexander J. R. Botz, Roland A. Fischer, Wolfgang Schuhmann, Martin Muhler,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 4087–4091.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201509382 - Structure–Function Correlations for Ru/CNT in the Catalytic Decomposition of Ammonia,
Weiqing Zheng, Jian Zhang, Bo Zhu, Raoul Blume, Yonglai Zhang, Klaus Schlichte, Robert Schlögl, Ferdi Schüth, Dang Sheng Su,
ChemSusChem 2010.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.200900217 - Thermal Stability and Reducibility of Oxygen-Containing Functional Groups on Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Surfaces: A Quantitative High-Resolution XPS and TPD/TPR Study,
Shankhamala Kundu, Yuemin Wang, Wei Xia, Martin Muhler,
J. Phys. Chem. C 2008, 112, 16869–16878.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jp804413a - Exchange Anisotropy in Nanocasted Co3O4 Nanowires,
Elena Lorena Salabaş, Anja Rumplecker, Freddy Kleitz, Florin Radu, Ferdi Schüth,
Nano Lett. 2006, 6(12), 2977–2981.
https://doi.org/10.1021/nl060528n - CO Oxidation over Supported Gold Catalysts—”Inert” and “Active” Support Materials and Their Role for the Oxygen Supply during Reaction,
Markus M Schubert, Stefan Hackenberg, Andre C van Veen, Martin Muhler, Vojtech Plzak, R.Jürgen Behm,
J. Catal. 2001, 197, 113–122.
https://doi.org/10.1006/jcat.2000.3069
Also of Interest
Martin Muhler, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, honored for outstanding work in catalysis research
Catalysis award for Johannes A. Lercher, Technical University of Munich, Germany
Catalysis award for Piet van Leeuwen, INSA Toulouse, France
David Cole-Hamilton, UK, and Xinhe Bao, China, honored for contributions to catalysis
Professor Robert Schlögl, Berlin, Germany, was awarded the BASF-DECHEMA Alwin Mittasch Prize 2015
