Research Examples
What would you learn in our group...??
- You would learn to handle complex ultra high vacuum equipment which is key for many important technological processes.
- You would work with state of the art equipment such as a molecular beam system.
- Molecular beam scattering is a rather rare but very efficient experimental technique. A molecular beam might be compared with a LASER system, however, instead of monochromatic light we use supersonic and nearly monochromatic particle beams which allowus to sample the structure and reactivity of catalyst surfaces. That is, our research is quite close to industrial applications which are relevant for our daily lifes.
- Furthermore, we have a focus on nanoscience. and in part materials science.
Examples, current projects:
Model Catalysts - Nanoclusters on Supports: Here we focus our attention on the reactivity of metal nanoparticles which are deposited on metal oxide supports. These topics are related to heterogeneous catalysis and materials science applications. In collaboration with national laboratories, for some of these projects, nanofabrication techniques such as electron beam lithography are used to manufacture the samples. The figure shows a scanning electron microscopy image of a typical sample (made at Argonne National labs and Molecular Foundry in Chicago/Berkeley by S. Cabrini and L. Ocola) and molecular beam scattering data.
Lead: Dr. E . Kadossov
Publications: e.g. Chemical Physics Letters 483 (2009) 250-253
Supported by: NSF-CAREER
Nanotubes: We work with carbon nanotubes and inorganic nanotubes mostly towards application in heterogeneous catalysis. The figure shows a sample of WS2 nanotubes which are used for hydrodesulfurization catalysis. We obtained the sample shown here from R. Tenne (Weizmann Inst., Israel).
Lead: PhD project of Mallikharjuna Komarneni
Publications: e.g.,Catalysis Letters 129 (2009) 66-70; 125 (2008) 236-242; Chemical Physics Letters 476 (2009) 227-231
Supported by: DoE
Alkaline Earth Oxides: Projects related to a DoE-EPSCoR state grant concern the reactivity of CaO, graphite, and iron oxide surfaces and related nanoclusters. Coal includes these compounds as impurities. Therefore we study the interaction of combustion gases with these systems.
Lead: Ashish Chakradhar's Ph.D. project
Publications: e.g. Chemical Communications (2008) 4073-4075
Supported by: DoE-EPSCoR
Trips: Graduate students will attend ACS meetings and may work off campus with collaboration partners at national labs.
Current funding (2009-2012): NSF-CAREER, DoE, DoE supplemental, DoE-EPSCoR
Not insignificant for graduate students: I will be able to cover your salary and health insurance.