Publications

2025

Hergesell, A. H., Seitzinger, C. L., Pasternak, H., Seidling, L., Ospina Guarin, V. M., Karpensky, N., Puch, F., Welzel, T., Vollmer, I.* Mechano-catalytic conversion of polypropylene over zeolite-based materials. Catalysis Science and Technology 2025.

Morgen, T., Mecking, S., Vollmer, I.* Mechanistic study and modelling of polyethylene chain cleavage during ball milling. Macromolecules 2025 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.5c02110

Hergesell, A. H., Popp, S., Meena, R., Guarin, V. M. O., Seitzinger, C. L., Sievers, C., Li, G., Vollmer, I.* Homolytic fracture of inorganic crystalline materials enhances the mechano-chemical degradation of polypropylene. Chemical Science. 2025, 36 (16) 9 https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC03348A

van de Minkelis, J. H., de Waart, A. E., Altink, R. M., Vollmer, I.,* Weckhuysen, B.M.* Critical Parameters and Mechanism for Hydrothermal Polyethylene Conversion. RSC Sustainability. 2025 https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SU00674K

Perli, G., Olazabal, I., Breloy, L., Vollmer, I., Lopez-Gallego, F., Sardon, H., Towards a circular economy of heteroatom containing plastics: a focus on heterogeneous catalysis in recycling. Langmuir.2025, 41 (10), 6429-6456 doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c04015

Hergesell, A. H., Seitzinger, C. L., Burg, J., Baarslag, R. J., Vollmer, I.* Influence of ball milling parameters on the mechano-chemical conversion of polyolefins. RSC Mechanochemistry. 2025, 2, 263-272 doi.org/10.1039/D4MR00098F

Rejman, S., Reverdy, Z. M., Bör, Z., Louwen, J. N., Rieg, C., Dorresteijn, J. M., Waal, J.-K. van der, Vogt, E. T. C., Vollmer, I.,* Weckhuysen, B. M.* External Acidity as Performance Descriptor in Polyolefin Cracking using Zeolite-Based Materials. Nat. Commun. 2025 2980doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57158-1 (https://colab.research.google.com/github/MyonicS/External_Acidity_Paper/blob/main/Manuscript_Acidity.ipynb)

2024

Hergesell, A. H., Baarslag, R. J., Seitzinger, C. L., Meena, R., Schara, P., Tomović, Z., Li, G., Weckhuysen, B. M., Vollmer, I.,* Surface-activated mechano-catalysis for ambient conversion of plastic waste. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 38, 26139–26147 doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c07157

Chang, Y., Nguyen, V. S., Hergesell, A. H., Seitzinger, C., Meisner, J., Vollmer, I., Schork, J., & Sievers, C.* Thermodynamic Limits of the Depolymerization of Poly(olefin)s Using Mechanochemistry. RSC Mechanochemistry 2024, 1 (5) 11 doi.org/10.1039/D4MR00079J

van de Minkelis, J.H., Hergesell, A.H., van der Waal, J.C., Altink, R.M., Vollmer, I.*, Weckhuysen, B.M.* Catalytic Pyrolysis of Polyethylene with Microporous and Mesoporous Materials: Assessing Performance and Mechanistic Understanding 2024 ChemSusChem, e202401141 doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202401141

Haben, S., Kromwijk, J. J. G., Vollmer, I.,* Weckhuysen, B. M.* Operando UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy insights into the methane dehydroaromatization reaction over Mo/H-ZSM-5 catalysts. Journal of Catalysis, 2024 436, 115619. doi.org/10.1016/J.JCAT.2024.115619

Vollmer, I., Jenks, M. J. F., Rejman, S., Meirer, F., Gurinov, A. Baldus, M., Weckhuysen, B. M.,* Unravelling potential reaction intermediates during catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene with microscopy and spectroscopy, Catal. Sci. Technol. 2024, 14, 894–902. doi.org/10.1039/D3CY01473H

2023

Smak, T. J., de Peinder, P., van der Waal, J. C., Altink, R., Vollmer, I.*, & Weckhuysen, B. M.* Oxidative Conversion of Polyethylene Towards Di-Carboxylic Acids: A Multi-Analytical Approach. ChemSusChem 2023, e202301198. doi.org/10.1002/CSSC.202301198

Aydonat, S., Hergesell, A. H., Seitzinger, C. L., Lennarz, R., Chang, G., Sievers, C.,* Meisner, J.,* Vollmer, I.,* & Göstl, R.,* Leveraging mechanochemistry for sustainable polymer degradation. Polym. J. 2023, 56 (4), 249–268, doi.org/10.1038/s41428-023-00863-9

Schnabl, K.B., Mandemaker, L.D.B., Nierop, K.G.J., Deen, O.V.B., Eefting, D.D, Vollmer, I., Weckhuysen, B.M.,* Green Additives in Chitosan-Based Bioplastic Films: Physical, Mechanical, and Chemical Properties, ChemSusChem, 2023, 16 (20), e202300585, doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202300585

Jöbsis, H. J., Fykouras, K., Reinders, J. W. C., Katwijk, J. van, Dorresteijn, J. M., Arens, T., Vollmer, I., Muscarella, L. A., Leppert, L., Hutter, E. M.,* Conduction Band Tuning by Controlled Alloying of Fe into Cs₂AgBiBr₆ Double Perovskite Powders. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2023, 2306106. doi.org/10.1002/ADFM.202306106

Thevenon, A.,* Vollmer, I.,* Towards a Cradle-to-Cradle Lifecycle for Polyethylene, Angew. Chemie In. Ed., 2023, 135 (3), e202216163, doi.org/10.1002/ange.202216163

Rejman, S., Vollmer, I.,* Werny, M., Meirer, F., Vogt, E., Weckhuysen, B. M.,* Transport Limitations in Polyolefin Cracking at the Single Particle Level, Chem. Sci., 2023, 14(37) 10068-10080, doi.org/10.1039/D3SC03229A (data available at: doi.org/10.24416/UU01-72ZJU1)

Vollmer, I.,* Sardon, H., Huber, G.W., Li, Z., Introduction to Plastic Conversion, Polymer Chemistry, 2023, 14, 3054-3056, doi.org/10.1039/D3PY90069J

2021

Vollmer, I., Jenks, M. J. F., González, R. M., Meirer, F. & Weckhuysen, B. M. Plastic Waste Conversion over a Refinery Waste Catalyst. Angew. Chemie Int. Ed., 2021, 60, 16101–16108, doi.org/10.1002/anie.202104110

Vaksmaa, A., Knittel, K., Abdala, A., Goudriaan, M., Ellrott, A., Witte, H.J., Vollmer, I., Meirer, F., Lott, C., Weber, M., Engelmann, J.C., Niemann, H., Microbial Communities on Plastic Polymers in the Mediterranean Sea. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2021, 12, 1021, doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.673553

ten Have, I.C., Duijndam, A.C.A., Oord, R., Berlo-van den Broek, H.J.M., Vollmer, I. Weckhuysen, B.M.W., Meirer, F.,  Photoinduced Force Microscopy as an Efficient Method Towards the Detection of Nanoplastics. Chemistry–Methods,2021, 1, 205–209, doi.org/10.1002/cmtd.202100017

2020

Vollmer, I., Jenks, M.J.F., Roelands, M.C.P, White, R.J., van Harmelen, T., de Wild, P., van der Laan, G.P., Meirer, F., Keurentjes, J.T.F., Weckhuysen, B.M., Beyond Mechanical Recycling: Giving New Life to Plastic Waste. Angew. Chemie Int. Ed., 2020, 59, 15402–15423 doi.org/10.1002/ange.201915651

Vollmer, I., Abou‐Hamad, E., Gascon, J., Kapteijn, F., Aromatization of ethylene–main intermediate for MDA?, ChemCatChem, 2020, 12 (2), 544-549, doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201901655

2019

Vollmer, I., Ould-Chikh, S., Aguilar-Tapia, A., Li, G., Pidko, E., Hazemann, J.L., Kapteijn, F., Gascon, J., Activity Descriptors Derived from Comparison of Mo and Fe as Active Metal for Methane Conversion to Aromatics. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2019, 141, 18814–18824, doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b09710

Li, G., Vollmer, I., Liu, C., Gascon, J., Pidko, E.A., Structure and reactivity of the Mo/ZSM-5 dehydroaromatization catalyst: an operando computational study ACS Catalysis, 2019, 9 (9), 8731-8737, doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.9b02213

Vollmer, I., Mondal, A., Yarulina, I., Abou-Hamad, E., Kapteijn, F., Gascon, J., Quantifying the impact of dispersion, acidity and porosity of Mo/HZSM-5 on the performance in methane dehydroaromatization 2019, Applied Catalysis A: General 574, 144-150, doi.org/10.1016/j.apcata.2019.01.022

Vollmer, I., Kosinov, N. Szécsényi, Á, Li, G., Yarulina, I, Abou-Hamad, E., Gurinov, A., Ould-Chikh, S., Aguilar-Tapia, A. Hazemann, J.L., Pidko, E., Hensen, E.J.M., Kapteijn, F., Gascon, J. , A site-sensitive quasi in-situ strategy to characterize Mo/HZSM-5 during activation, Journal of Catalysis, 2019, 370, 321-331, doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2019.01.013

Vollmer, I., Yarulina, I., Kapteijn, F., Gascon, J., Progress in developing a structure‐activity‐relationship for the direct aromatization of methane ChemCatChem, 2019, 11 (1), 39-52, doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201800880

2018

Yarulina, I., De Wispelaere, K., Bailleul, S., Goetze, J., Radersma, M., Abou-Hamad, E., Vollmer, I., Goesten, M., Mezari, B., Hensen, E.J.M, Martínez-Espín, J.S., Morten, M., Michell, S., Perez-Ramirez, J., Olsbye, U., Weckhuysen, B.M., Van Speybroeck, V., Kapteijn, F., Gascon, J., Methanol-to-Propylene: structure performance descriptors and the long-overlooked role of Lewis acidity, Nature Chemistry 2018, 10(8), 804, doi.org/10.1038/s41557-018-0081-0

Vollmer, I., van der Linden, B., Ould-Chikh, S., Aguilar-Tapia, A., Yarulina, I., Abou-Hamad, E., Sneider, Y.G., Olivos Suarez, A.I., Hazemann, J.L., Kapteijn, F., Gascon, J., On the dynamic nature of Mo sites for methane dehydroaromatization, Chemical Science, 2018, 9(21): 4801-4807, doi.org/10.1039/C8SC01263F

Vollmer, I., Li, G., Yarulina, I., Kosinov, N., Hensen, E.J., Houben, K., Mance, D., Baldus, M., Gascon, J., Kapteijn, F., Relevance of the Mo-precursor state in H-ZSM-5 for methane dehydroaromatization, Catalysis Science & Technology, 2018, 8 (3), 916-922, doi.org/10.1039/C7CY01789H

2017

Kosinov, N., Parastaev, A., Wijpkema, A.S.G, Vollmer, I., Gascon, J., Kapteijn, F., Hensen, E.J.M., Comment on “Efficient Conversion on Methane to Aromatics by Coupling Methylation Reaction”, ACS Catalysis, 2017, 7, 4485-4487, doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.7b00665