(7fs) Mechanistic, Spectroscopic and Theoretical Assessment of Porous Catalytic Materials

Porous crystalline materials such as zeolites or metal organic frameworks provide a large and diverse pool of heterogeneous catalysts and catalyst supports. Thorough mechanistic investigations that employ characterization of material properties and surface structure, kinetic and isotopic studies, and computational modeling are needed in order to elucidate how these materials work as catalysts regardless of reaction or application. Further, this approach can be used in conjunction with specialized synthetic strategies in order to produce well-defined catalysts, imperative in understanding catalytic function.

Brønsted acidic zeolites, one class of these materials, catalyze a plethora of hydrocarbon and oxygenate reactions, all of which are mediated by ion-pair transition states. My graduate research with Prof. Enrique Iglesia investigated the factors that affect reactivity, specifically the size, shape and charge of the organic cation (derived from reactants) and inorganic anion (formed after deprotonation of the catalyst). These results were garnered from reactions that couple alkenes (oligomerization) as well as incorporate alkanes (alkylation via hydride transfer), but have been shown to extend to several other chemistries. We combined state-of-the-art theoretical methods (density functional theory) with rigorous kinetic measurements from a range of reactants and catalysts that led to a copious array of transition states and precursors. The synergy between theory and experiment exposed unprecedented mechanistic detail, such as the flexibility of zeolites to distort locally to increase van der Waals interactions with the cation that ultimately affect reactivity.

Part of my postdoctoral work with Prof. Christopher Jones has been with another class of porous materials, metal organic frameworks (MOFs). I have utilized MOFs, not as catalysts themselves, but as catalyst precursors to form iron-carbide materials for propane dehydrogenation reaction studies. My other postdoctoral project has involved design and synthesis of aminopolymers used in sorbent systems for CO₂ capture from dilute sources such as ambient air and flue gas. This project has broadened my skill set in materials and polymer synthesis and characterization, as well as separations and adsorption processes. Future plans for my own independent research group will incorporate kinetic investigations with theoretical methods and advanced synthetic techniques as a framework for studying porous catalytic materials from different catalyst classes and for other reaction pathways/applications. This framework can be extended to understand effects of important catalyst properties on reactivity and selectivity in order to advance rational catalyst design.

Postdoctoral Projects:

“Propane dehydrogenation on MOF-derived iron carbide catalysts” and “Development of aminopolymer-based sorbents for CO₂ capture with improved capacity and oxidative stability.”

Under the supervision of Christopher W. Jones, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

PhD Dissertation: “Alkene and Alkane Chain Growth on Solid Acid Catalysts.”

Under the supervision of Enrique Iglesia, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

Teaching Interests:

A key driving force for pursuing an academic career is my interest in teaching, both in the classroom and in the laboratory. One benefit of research in catalysis is that multiple fundamental pillars of chemical engineering (kinetics, transport and thermodynamics) must be mastered in order to understand and solve complex problems. Most of my experience comes from teaching chemical reaction engineering courses, and these would be the courses that I would prefer. As a graduate student instructor at UC Berkeley for the undergraduate and graduate level, I both prepared discussion sections used to advance the material as well as guest lectured in the main course. I have also guest lectured at Georgia Tech in the material and energy balances course. Further, I designed and taught an elective at UC Berkeley titled “Energy and Atom Efficient Catalytic Conversions,” which covered both current and green(er), alternative industrial catalytic reactions for energy, fuel and chemical production.