(3bo) Tailored Catalytic Porous Materials for Selective and Sustainable Chemical Processes

My current postdoctoral work, with Prof. Raul Lobo in Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI) directed by Prof. Dionisios Vlachos and in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at University of Delaware, focuses on the development of multicomponent catalysts for tandem catalytic processes, which achieves process intensification by reducing energy consumption and costly separation steps. I successfully synthesized a family of zeolite-encapsulated metal nanoparticles via a novel synthetic approach, and showed that the encapsulated catalysts exhibit more than 3 times higher catalytic performances than typical supported metal catalysts for tandem catalysis. I am also exploring new tandem reaction system by developing tailored multicomponent catalysts.

My Ph.D. work, with Prof. Wei Fan in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, aimed at the synthesis and catalysis of nanoporous materials such as zeolites, metal oxides and porous carbon for biomass upgrading processes. In particular, I developed a hierarchical Lewis acid zeolite, which exhibited >3 times higher catalytic activities for sugar isomerization reactions, compared to conventional Lewis acid zeolites. By loading Pt nanoparticles on Lewis acid zeolites, I showed that this catalyst performs glycerol conversion to lactic acid with 72% yield via one-step, while lactic acid could not be produced on typical metal oxide-supported Pt catalysts under identical conditions. Furthermore, I achieved biomass-derived p-xylene production with 97% yield, by developing phosphorous-containing zeolite and silica materials. This was unachievable on conventional Lewis or Brønsted acid catalysts which led to p-xylene with ~70% yield, due to catalyst deactivation.

Before starting Ph.D., I had experience of polymer industry for several years. During this period, I had studied and designed polymer properties on a commercial scale through a variety of polymer characterization and processing techniques. This industry experience broadened my perspective towards how polymeric materials should be developed in everyday life.

My academic and industry experience in the synthesis, characterization and catalysis of inorganic and organic materials has prepared me for my independent research career. I aim to establish a research program on the rational design of advanced nanoporous materials (such as zeolites, carbon, metal-organic framework (MOF), porous polymers, etc.) for energy and environmental applications. My research will be motivated by grand challenges in energy and environmental issues, in particular, sustainable production of fuels and chemicals, emission control catalysis, CO₂ conversion, and catalysis for waste water treatment.

Teaching interest:

I enjoy conveying my knowledge to others as well as exploring new technologies with them. I am comfortable in teaching many of the core chemical engineering courses (Chemical Reaction Engineering, Thermodynamics, Mass and Energy balances, and Heat and Mass transfer). I would also be interested in teaching more specialized courses in i) heterogeneous catalysis, ii) nanomaterials chemistry and engineering, and iii) characterization of nanostructured materials as elective courses.

Selected publications: (Total: 30; 1216 Citations; h-index: 20)

1. H. J. Cho, D. Kim and B. Xu, “Selectivity control in tandem catalytic furfural upgrading on zeolite-encapsulated Pt nanoparticles through site and solvent engineering”, ACS Catal. 2020, 10 (8), 4770-4779
2. H. J. Cho, D. Kim and B. Xu, “Molecular level proximity of metal and acid sites in zeolite encapsulated Pt nanoparticles for selective multistep tandem catalysis”, ACS Catal. 2020, 10 (5), 3340-3348

• Featured on Cover Art

3. H. J. Cho, D. Kim, J. Li, D. Su and B. Xu, “Zeolite encapsulated Pt nanoparticles for tandem catalysis”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140 (41), 13514-13520
4. H. J. Cho, L. Ren, V. Vattipalli, Y.-H. Yeo, N. Gould, B. Xu, R. J. Gorte, R. Lobo, P. J. Dauenhauer, M. Tsapatsis and W. Fan, “Renewable p-xylene from 2,5-dimethylfuran and ethylene using phosphorus-containing zeolite catalysts”, ChemCatChem 2017, 9, 398-402

• One of the top 20 most-downloaded articles published on ChemCatChem, between July 2016 and June 2018
• Patent (No. PCT/US2017/054558), entitled “Phosphorus-containing solid catalysts and reactions catalyzed thereby, including synthesis of p-xylene”

5. K. Rieger*, H. J. Cho*, H. Yeung, W. Fan and J. Schiffman, “Antimicrobial activity of silver ions released from zeolites immobilized on cellulose nanofiber mats”, ACS Appl. Mater. & Interfaces 2016, 8 (5), 3032-3040 (*Equally contributed)
6. H. J. Cho, C.-C. Chang and W. Fan, “Base free, one-pot synthesis of lactic acid from glycerol using a bifunctional Pt/Sn-MFI catalyst”, Green Chem. 2014, 16 (7), 3428-3433

• Featured on Front Cover
• One of the top 15 most-read articles on Green Chem. from May to July of 2014

7. H. J. Cho, P. Dornath and W. Fan, “Synthesis of hierarchical Sn-MFI as Lewis acid catalysts for isomerization of cellulosic sugars”, ACS Catal. 2014, 4 (6), 2029-2037