Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme ISE
Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme ISE

Dr. Elias Frei

Short biography

Elias Frei is the Director of the Hydrogen Technology Division of the Fraunhofer ISE. Previously, he held leading positions at BASF SE as innovation and sustainability manager and conducted research studies on catalysis processes for hydrogen and its derivatives. With his many years of experience in science and industry, he drives the development of innovative technologies for a sustainable hydrogen economy.

With more than 170 employees, the Hydrogen Technologies division is one of the leading research organizations in the field of hydrogen in Germany. Besides production research for fuel cells and electrolyzer technologies, sustainable synthesis products (P2X options) and hydrogen supply chain analysis are the fields of expertise. Through its Center for Electrolysis, Fuel Cells and Synthetic Fuels, Fraunhofer ISE tests, characterizes and optimizes components and subsystems for PEM/AEM electrolysis, PEM fuel cells and Power-to-X technologies, positioning itself as a key driver in the global transition to renewable energy systems. The focus molecules of the Power-to-X routes are MeOH, DME, NH3 and downstreams of C1,C2-building blocks like OMEs, olefines and SAF. As feedstock, biogas and biomass options are preferred, but also carbon management strategies with CO2-conversion processes and DAC are pursuit. A dedicated application focus is preferred to provide innovative solutions along industrial needs.

Awards & outstanding achievements

Dr. Elias Frei is the principal inventor of more than 15 registered patent families for sustainable technologies, processes, and catalysts. For eight years, he has been a member of the "Red Lions Club" of GECATS. He served on the committee for BASF Venture Capital, was appointed Executive Candidate of BASF SE after two years of company tenure, was a member of the Sounding Board of BASF's Global Central Research, and won the Catolympics. Since January 2025, he has been appointed a member of the Hydrogen Advisory Board of Baden-Württemberg.

Selected publications

Year Title
authors		 Publication
2025 "Copper Gallium Aluminium Mixed Metal Oxides as Alternative Catalyst Candidates for Efficient Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol and Dimethyl Ether"
S. Weber, E. Fako, T. J Goncalves, S. De*, C. Boscagli, M. Müller, S. Han, I. Jevtovikj, R. Baumgarten, M.l Geske, R. Naumann d’Alnoncourt, S. Agarwal, M. Khatamirad, A. Schäfer, F. Rosowski, E. Frei, S.A. Schunk*		 ACS Catalysis, 15 (21), 18857–18876
2022 "Quantification and Tuning of Surface Oxygen Vacancies for the Hydrogenation of CO2 on Indium Oxide Catalysts"
R. Baumgarten, R. Naumann d´Alnoncourt, S. Lohr, E. Gioria, E. Frei, E. Fako, S. De, C. Boscagli, M. Drieß, S. Schunk*, F. Rosowski*		 Chem. Ing. Techn., 94 (11), 1765–1775
2021 "2D Fe-nanosheet based catalysts for Ammonia Synthesis"
H. Fan, X. Huang*, H. Ruhland, J. Folke, Z. Liu, R. Imlau, S. Heumann, F. Girgsdies, J. Granwehr, R.-A. Eichel, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 ACS Appl. Mat.&Int., 13 (25), 30187–30197
2020 "Transition from 2D to 3D SBA-15 by High-Temperature Fluoride Addition and its Impact on the Surface Reactivity Probed by Isopropanol Conversion"
M. Lamoth, T. Gries, F. Girgsdies, F. Rosowski, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 Chem.-A Eur. J., 26 (50), 11571–11583
2020 "Cu-Zn alloy formation as unfavored state for efficient methanol catalysts"
E. Frei*, A. Gaur, T. Lunkenbein, H. Lichtenberg, L. Zwiener, M. Scherzer, D. Brennecke, J.-D. Grunwaldt, R. Schlögl		 ChemCatChem, 12 (16), 4029–4033
2020 "Nanocatalysts unravel the selective state of Ag"
M. Lamoth, T. Jones, M. Plodinec, A. G. F. Machoke, S. Wrabetz, M. Krämer, A. Karpov, F. Rosowski, S. Piccinin, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 ChemCatChem, 12 (11), 2977–2988
2020 "The Mechanism of Interfacial CO2 Activation on Al Doped Cu/ZnO"
M. Heenemann, M.-M- Millet, F. Girgsdies, M. Eichelbaum, T. Risse, R. Schlögl, T. Jones*, E. Frei*		 ACS Catalysis, 10 (10), 5672–5680
2020 "Oxygen diffusion in Cu-based catalysts: A Probe for metal support interactions"
A. V. Tarasov*, M. Friedrich, A.-Y. Klyushin, F. Girgsdies, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 Applied Catalysis A, 594, 117460
2020 "F-doping of nanostructured ZnO: a way to modify structural, electronic, and surface properties"
E.H. Wolf, M.-M. Millet, F. Seitz, F. Redeker, W. Riedel, G. Scholz, W. Hetaba, D. Teschner, S. Wrabetz, F. Girgsdies, A. Klyushin, T. Risse, S. Hasenstab-Riedel, E. Frei*		 PhsyChemChemPhys, 22 (20), 11273–11285
2019 "Oxidative fluorination of Cu/ZnO methanol catalysts"
V. Dybbert, S. Fehr, F. Klein, A. Schaadt, A. Hoffmann, E. Frei, E. Erdem, T. Ludwig, H. Hillebrecht, I. Krossing*		 Angew. Chemie, 131 (37), 13069–13073
2019 "Highly dispersed Ni0/NixMg1-xO catalysts derived from solid solutions: How metal and support control the CO2 hydrogenation"
M.-M. Millet, A. V. Tarasov, F. Girgsdies, G. Algara-Siller, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 ACS Catalysis, 9 (9), 8534–8546
2019 "Electrochemical Surface Oxidation of Copper Studied by in-situ Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction"
M. Scherzer, F. Girgsdies, E. Stotz, M.-G. Willinger, E. Frei, R. Schlögl, U. Pietsch, T. Lunkenbein*		 J. Phys, Chem. C, 123 (21), 13253–13626
2019 "Supported Ag nanoparticles and clusters for CO oxidation: size effects and influence of the silver-oxygen interactions"
M. Lamoth, M. Plodinec, L. Scharfenberg, S. Wrabetz, F. Girgsdies, T. Jones, F. Rosowksi, R. Horn, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 ACS Applied Nano materials, 2 (5), 2909–2920
2019 "In-situ quantification of reaction adsorbates in low-temperature methanol synthesis on a high performance Cu/ZnO:Al catalyst"
A. V. Tarasov*, F. Seitz, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 ACS Catalysis, 9 (6), 5537–5544
2019 "Synthesis and characterization of Ag-delafossites AgBO2 (B: Al, Ga, In) from rapid hydrothermal process"
L. Zwiener, T. Jones, E. H. Wolf, F. Girgsdies, M. Plodinec, A. Y. Klyushin, E. Willinger, F. Rosowski, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., 18, 2333–2345
2019 "Evolution of zincian malachite synthesis by low temperature co-precipitation and its catalytic impact on the methanol synthesis"
L. Zwiener, F. Girgsdies, D. Brennecke, D. Teschner, A. G. F. Machoke, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 Appl. Catal. B: Environmental, 249, 218–226
2019 "Activating a Cu/ZnO:Al Catalyst – much more than Reduction: Decomposition, Self-doping and Polymorphism"
E. Frei*, A. Gaur, H. Lichtenberg, C. Heine, M. Friedrich, M. Greiner, T. Lunkenbein, J.-D. Grunwaldt, R. Schlögl		 ChemCatChem, 11 (6), 1587–1592
2019 "Ni Single Atom Catalyst for CO2 Activation"
M.-M. Millet, G. Algara-Siller, S. Wrabetz, A. Mazheika, F. Girgsdies, D. Teschner, F. Seitz, A. Tarasov, S. V. Levchenko, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 JACS, 141 (6), 2451–2461
2018 "The Role of Adsorbed and Subsurface Carbon Species for the Selective Alkyne Hydrogenation Over a Pd-Black Catalyst: An Operando Study of Bulk and Surface"
J.-J. Velasco-Vélez*, D. Teschner, F. Girgsdies, M.Hävecker, V. Streibel, M. G. Willinger, J. Cao, M. Lamoth, E. Frei, R. Wang, A. Centeno, A. Zurutuza, R. Schlögl, A. Knop-Gericke		 Top. Catal., 61 (20), 2052–2061
2018 "Surface titration of supported Ni catalysts by O2-pulse thermal analysis"
M.-M. Millet, E. Frei*, G. Algara-Siller, R. Schlögl, A. Tarasov*		 Applied Catalysis A, General, 566, 155–163
2018 "Investigations of Cu/Zn Oxalates from Aqueous Solutions: Single-Phase Precursors and Beyond"
L. Zwiener, F. Girgsdies, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 Chem. Eur. J., 24, 15080–15088
2018 "The Electro-Deposition/Dissolution of CuSO4 Aqueous Electrolyte Investigated by In Situ Soft X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy"
J.-J. Velasco-Velez, K. Skorupska, E. Frei, Y.-C. Huang, C.-L. Dong, B.-J. Su, C.-J. Hsu, H.-Y. Chou, J.-M. Chen, P. Strasser, R. Schlögl, A. Knop-Gericke, C.-H. Chuang		 J. Phys. Chem. B, 122 (2), 780–787
2017 "In-Situ Formation of Fe Nanoparticles from FeOOH Nanosheets on γ-Al2O3 as Efficient Catalysts for Ammonia Synthesis"
H. Fan, X. Huang*, K. Kähler, J. Folke, F. Girgsdies, D. Teschner, Y.Ding, K. Hermann, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 5, 10900–10909
2017 "IR-Spectroscopic Study on the Interface of Cu-based Methanol Synthesis Catalysts: Evidence for the Formation of a ZnO overlayer"
J. Schumann, J. Kröhnert, E. Frei*, R. Schlögl, A. Trunschke*		 Top. Catal., 60, 1735–1743
2016 "Bridging the Time Gap: A Copper/Zinc Oxide/Aluminum Oxide Catalyst for Methanol Synthesis Studied under Industrially Relevant Conditions and Time Scales"
T. Lunkenbein*, F. Girgsdies, T. Kandemir, N. Thomas, M. Behrens, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 Angew. Chemie Int. Ed., 55, 12708–12712
2016 "Reverse water-gas shift reaction at the Cu/ZnO interface: Influence of the Cu/Zn ratio on structure-activity correlations"
C. Álvarez-Galván, J. Schumann, M. Behrens, J. L. García Fierro, R. Schlögl, E. Frei*		 Appl. Catal. B: Environmental, 195, 104–111
2015 "The Mechanism of CO and CO2 Hydrogenation to Methanol over Cu-Based Catalysts"
F. Studt, M. Behrens, E. L. Kunkes, N. Thomas, A. Tarasov, J. Schumann, E. Frei, J. B. Varley, F. Abild-Petersen, J. K. Nørskov, R. Schlögl		 ChemCatChem, 7, 1105–1111