Rate My Professor Irene M.N. Groot

Irene M.N. Groot is Professor of Surface and Interface Science in the Catalysis and Surface Chemistry group at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University. Born in Amsterdam, she moved to Leiden in 1999 to study chemistry, completing her MSc in 2005 after research internships at Leiden Observatory, studying CO and CO₂ ices under interstellar conditions, and at the University of California, Santa Barbara, designing an ultrahigh vacuum setup for HCl scattering studies. She earned her PhD in 2009 from Leiden University with a thesis titled “The fight for a reactive site,” investigating hydrogen dissociation on bare and CO-precovered ruthenium and stepped platinum surfaces using supersonic molecular beams, density functional theory, and dynamics calculations, under supervisors Prof. A.W. Kleyn and Prof. G.J. Kroes. Post-PhD, she was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin (2010-2012), examining CO oxidation on metal oxide catalysts via scanning tunneling microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and gas chromatography. In 2013, with a NWO Veni fellowship, she joined Leiden Institute of Physics, researching chlorine production on ruthenium dioxide using high-pressure scanning tunneling microscopy, later taking over catalysis activities including operando techniques. She moved to the Leiden Institute of Chemistry in 2015 as tenure-track assistant professor, gained tenure as associate professor in 2018, and was appointed full professor in March 2024.

Groot's research centers on high-pressure surface science to understand heterogeneous catalysis under industrial conditions, employing operando scanning probe microscopy (ReactorSTM, ReactorAFM), surface X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and optical microscopy to probe structure-activity relationships in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, hydrodesulfurization, NO reduction/oxidation, and chlorine production, alongside 2D materials growth on liquid metals. She has secured major awards including NWO Veni (2012, €250k), Vidi (2018, €800k), Aspasia Prize (2018, €200k), EU FET Open ‘LMCat’ (2016, €652k, programme leader), H2020 ‘2D Engine’ (2023, €520k), finalist Gerhard Ertl Young Scientist Award (2015), and Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting qualification (2012). Key publications encompass “Investigation of Active Catalysts at Work” (Accounts of Chemical Research, 2021), “In situ observations of an active MoS₂ model hydrodesulfurization catalyst” (Nature Communications, 2019), “Surface science under reaction conditions: CO oxidation on Pt and Pd model catalysts” (Chemical Society Reviews, 2017), and “Real-time monitoring and tailoring of graphene growth on liquid copper” (ACS Nano, 2021). Her innovations bridge the pressure gap, advancing sustainable energy and materials catalysis.