(4il) Design, Synthesis, and Characterization of Highly Dynamic Catalyst Systems

Research Experience:

I am currently a postdoctoral scholar in the Center for Catalysis and Surface Science at Northwestern University. My research with Drs. Justin Notestein and Neil Schweitzer focus on the fundamental study of the properties, synthesis, and surface chemistries of supported transition metal nitride and carbide materials. In my Ph.D., I worked with Dr. Jianli Hu at West Virginia University using microwave plasma, and materials synthesis to produce ammonia via a chemical looping process. Previously, in my undergraduate degree, I also studied thin films and energy storage materials toward sustainable chemistry ends.

Overview of research interests:

Catalytic materials which feature highly dynamic surfaces can present both challenges and opportunities for researchers. Increasingly, efforts to reduce human caused CO₂ emissions rely on (1), alternative energy related process which require new catalyst innovations, (2) changing surface structures by synthesis methods, catalyst design, and (3) plasma synthesis/pre-treatment can open new and interesting avenues in old materials such as transition metal oxides, nitrides and carbides.

• Energy related catalytic reactions:

The urgency to reduce carbon emissions to keep global temperature rise to below a 2 °C, per the Paris Climate accords, increases every year. Part of the solutions will require new and improved catalysts for new processes. These reactions of interest include ammonia synthesis, hydrogen production, methanol synthesis, Fischer-Tropsch type chemistry, and the activation of stable molecules like CH₄, N₂, CO₂, and others.

• Advanced catalytic materials:

Typically studied as bulk materials, transition metal nitrides and carbides have unique and attractive properties, they exhibit high catalytic activities, dynamic surfaces, and are uniquely difficult to study using spectroscopy owing to their more “metal-like” qualities. The class of transition metal carbides, nitrides when supported on various systems may provide useful avenues for their detailed study and development into well characterizated systems.

• Plasma, -catalysis, -catalyst synthesis:

Fundamental understanding of plasma-catalyst interactions is currently being investigated. As such, it is an open research field with many opportunities, and of particular interest are surface catalyzed reactions on plasma treated materials with stable molecules, such as CO₂, and N₂. Catalyst synthesis and preparation by in-situ, or post-plasma treatment are of practical energy savings and scientific interest as they can access both high energy plasma states and form unique material properties at the plasma-catalyst interface.