Dr Alan McCue
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Dr Alan McCue
BSc, PhD, MRSC
Lecturer
- About
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Room 158
Meston Building
Department of Chemisry
School of Natural and Computing Sciences
University of Aberdeen
AB24 3UE
Biography
I recieved both my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of Aberdeen. I am heavily involved in the Department of Chemistry's undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes and am partly responsible for our MSc in 'Advanced Energy Materials'. My research interests lie in the field of heterogeneous catalysis, with a particular emphasis on how activity and selectivity of hydrogenation catalysts (typically supported metals) can be manipulated by careful design. I also enjoy outreach work.
Qualifications
- BSc Chemistry2008 - University of Aberdeen
- PhD Chemistry2012 - University of Aberdeen
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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Programme director - Advanced Energy Materials MSc
- External Memberships
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Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Latest Publications
Mitigating catalyst deactivation in selective hydrogenation by enhancing dispersion and utilizing reaction heat effect
AIChE Journal, e17874Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.17874
Supported Pt Enabled Proton-Driven NAD(P)+ Regeneration for Biocatalytic Oxidation
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 14, no. 18, pp. 20943-20952Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c01743
Highly Selective and Stable Isolated Non-Noble Metal Atom Catalysts for Selective Hydrogenation of Acetylene
ACS Catalysis, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 607-615Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDirecting the H2-driven Selective Regeneration of NADH via Sn-doped Pt/SiO2
Green Chemistry, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 1451-1455Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMetal Phosphides and Sulfides in Heterogeneous Catalysis: Electronic and Geometric Effects
ACS Catalysis, vol. 11, no. 15, pp. 9102–9127Contributions to Journals: Review articles
- Research
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Research Overview
My principle research interests lie in the field of heterogeneous catalysis, with a particular emphasis on how activity and selectivity of hydrogenation catalysts (typically supported metals) can be manipulated by careful design. This can be achieved by a number of methods which include:
- Alloy formation and controlling surface composition
- Modifying surface properties by adsorption of organic ligands
- Incorporation of an inorganic element to change the structure (i.e., Pd + S)
Prepared catalysts can be characterised by a number of different techniques which range from routine (i.e., XRD, microscopy, physisorption or chemisorption) to more specialised (i.e., in-situ FTIR, temperature programmed methods and XAS). Catalyst performance is then evaluated by testing in either the liquid or gas phase at either ambient or elevated pressure/temperature. The most common reaction of interest is the selective hydrogenation of an alkyne to an alkene without over-hydrogenation to the alkane. This is a process of importance with regards to polymer production (i.e., polyethylene or polypropylene) and commodity chemicals in a number of areas. Other reactions of interest include CO2 hydrogenation and biomass utilisation.
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Chemistry.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Current Research
- Selective alkyne hydrogenation
- Development of CO2 hydrogenation catalysts
- Catalysts for biomass upgrading
- New and improved materials for gas separation
Funding and Grants
UK Catalysis Hub - A supported molten-salt membrane reactor
Royal Society of Chemistry - Combining pulse chemisorption and FTIR into a single low-cost measurement
Carnegie Trust - Palladium sulphide as a hydrogenation catalyst
- Teaching
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Programmes
- Undergraduate, 4 year, September start
- Undergraduate, 5 year, September start
- Postgraduate, 3 semester, January start
- Postgraduate, 3 semester, September start
- Postgraduate, 3 stage, September start
Courses
Topic - Nanomaterials
Topic - Porous Materials
Topic - Porous Materials
Topic - Environmental Remediation
Topic - Catalysis
Topic - Employability
Topic - Utilising Biorenewable Resources
- Hydrogen and the circular economy (CM5051)
- Renewables (CM5052)
Topic - Renewable Chemical Production
- Advanced lab and research skills (CM5054)
Topics - Flow Assurance & Natural Gas Chemistry
Teaching Responsibilities
I currently coordinate our Advanced Energy Materials MSc along with Dr Eve Wildman. This programme gives students a high level understanding in the areas of electrochemical conversion devices (such as battery and fuel cell technology), carbon capture technologies and the hydrogen economy, amongst other topics.
- Publications
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Page 1 of 4 Results 1 to 10 of 39
Mitigating catalyst deactivation in selective hydrogenation by enhancing dispersion and utilizing reaction heat effect
AIChE Journal, e17874Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.17874
Supported Pt Enabled Proton-Driven NAD(P)+ Regeneration for Biocatalytic Oxidation
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 14, no. 18, pp. 20943-20952Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c01743
Highly Selective and Stable Isolated Non-Noble Metal Atom Catalysts for Selective Hydrogenation of Acetylene
ACS Catalysis, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 607-615Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDirecting the H2-driven Selective Regeneration of NADH via Sn-doped Pt/SiO2
Green Chemistry, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 1451-1455Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMetal Phosphides and Sulfides in Heterogeneous Catalysis: Electronic and Geometric Effects
ACS Catalysis, vol. 11, no. 15, pp. 9102–9127Contributions to Journals: Review articlesAdsorbate-Induced Structural Evolution of Pd Catalyst for Selective Hydrogenation of Acetylene
ACS Catalysis, vol. 10, no. 24, pp. 15048–15059Contributions to Journals: ArticlesRapid scan FTIR reveals propane (am)oxidation mechanisms over Vanadium based catalysts
Journal of Catalysis, vol. 390, pp. 72-80Contributions to Journals: ArticlesComparison of Pd and Pd4S based catalysts for partial hydrogenation of external and internal butynes
Journal of Catalysis, vol. 383, pp. 51-59Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2020.01.010
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/15716/1/McCue_etal_JCat_Comparison_AAM.pdf
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Influence of pretreatment on surface interaction between Cu and anatase-TiO2 in the simultaneous photoremediation of nitrate and oxalic acid
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, vol. 7, no. 2, 103029Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2019.103029
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/13895/1/JECETEXT_2_.pdf
Support morphology-dependent alloying behaviour and interfacial effects of bimetallic Ni–Cu/CeO2 catalysts
Chemical Science, vol. 10, no. 12, pp. 3556-3566Contributions to Journals: Articles