Dr Nidhi Kapil

Dr Kapil's alumni profile, after having successfully completed her PhD, can be found here.

Office: Room 225, Roberts Building, UCL

Research:

Nidhi’s research involves the development of novel catalytic materials for the oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide, which is a reaction system of great industrial importance, particularly as propylene oxide is used as a starting material to make polyurethane plastics. The main aim of this research work is to design a stable yet selective catalyst to produce propylene oxide from propylene via a greener and simple route. The project takes a multiscale approach, integrating nano- (active site), meso- (porous catalyst architecture) and macroscale (reactor) efforts, to address the challenge of producing a better propylene oxidation catalyst. The project is centred on synthesis, characterisation, and catalytic testing of novel nano-structured heterogeneous catalysts, and build upon the nature-inspired engineering (NICE) methodology.

Education:
PhD, Chemical Engineering, University College London, London, UK (2021)

MSc, Chemistry, Panjab University, India (2014)

BSc, Chemistry, Panjab University, India (2012)

Publications

Kapil, N., Cardinale, F., Weissenberger, T., Trogadas, P., Nijhuis, T. A., Nigra, M. M., and Coppens, M.-O., 2021. Gold nanoparticles with tailored size through ligand modification for catalytic applications. Chemical Communications. 57, 10775-10778 [Link]
Kapil, N., Weissenberger, T., Cardinale, F., Trogadas, P., Nijhuis, T. A., Nigra, M. M. and Coppens, M.-O., 2021. Precisely Engineered Supported Gold Clusters as a Stable Catalyst for Propylene Epoxidation. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 60, 18185-18193 [Link]
Trogadas, P.^†, Kapil, N.^†, Angel, G., Kühl, S., Strasser, P., Brett, D. J. L. and Coppens, M.-O., 2021 Rapid synthesis of supported single metal nanoparticles and effective removal of stabilizing ligands. Journal of Materials Chemistry A († Both Authors contributed equally)
Trogadas, P., Cho, J. I., Kapil, N., Rasha, L., Corredera, A., Brett, D. J. L. and Coppens, M.-O., 2020. Effect of extended short-circuiting in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 4(11), pp.5739-5746. [Link]
Meng, Z., Casanova, S., Mohamed, H., Kapil, N., Xiao, X., Zhang, Y., Coppens, M. -O. and Mattia, D., 2020. Polymer nanotube membranes synthesized via liquid deposition in anodic alumina. Colloid and Interface Science Communications, 39, p.100334.[Link]
Perera, A. S., Cockcroft, J. K., Trogadas, P., Yu, H., Kapil, N. and Coppens, M.-O., 2019. Titanium (IV)-induced cristobalite formation in titanosilicates and its potential impact on catalysis. Journal of Materials Science, 54(1), pp.335-345. [Link]