Image: To study the interactions of lithium under conditions similar to what might be found in a fusion reactor, lithium on a sample of TZM molybdenum, which is an alloy of molybdenum, titanium, zirconium and carbon known for its high strength and temperature properties, is heated inside an ultrahigh vacuum chamber that is outfitted with an array of electron and ion spectrometers. Courtesy Bruce E. Koel.
Novel chemical and physical phenomena emerge at surfaces — the "seats of communication" between phases — and these properties are important to a vast range of applications, including catalysis, environmental remediation, deposition and etching for microelectronics fabrication, plasma-processing of materials, battery electrodes, 2D materials and topological insulators and first-wall shielding in fusion devices. New and revolutionary imaging and spectroscopy tools help characterize and investigate surface chemistry and physics at the atomic scale.
Catalysts are used to produce over 80% of all chemical products and fuels, with a total value in the U.S. of over $900 billion per year. Research and development has the promise of transforming the design, sustainability and use of energy in catalytic synthesis and storage. Advances in synthesis and nanotechnology enable unprecedented design and control of materials at the atomic and molecular scale. Catalysis research includes fundamentals and applications in heterogeneous catalysis for hydrocarbon conversion, electrocatalysis for electrolyzers and fuel cell electrodes, photocatalysis for water splitting and CO2 reduction for producing solar fuels, and plasma catalysis for activating unreactive molecules such as methane and carbon dioxide.
Faculty
Theory and Simulation of Electrochemical Processes; Electrochemical Reaction and Transport Mechanisms; Dynamic Electrochemical Interfaces; Disordered Electrochemical Systems
Ionized Gas Plasma-Aided Nanofabrication; Plasma Catalysis; Molecular Simulations of Plasma-Surface Interactions
Materials Synthesis; Solid-state Characterization; Advanced Spectroscopy; Catalysis
Computational Materials Discovery; High-throughput Quantum-chemical Modeling; Machine Learning for Solid-state and Nanoporous Energy Materials
Active Site Engineering; Kinetic, Synthetic and Theoretical Techniques; Reaction Mechanisms of Heterogeneous Catalysts
Granular and Multiphase Flow; Chemical Reactor Design, Stability, and Dynamics
Associated Faculty
Clay Mineral Surface Geochemistry; Geologic Carbon Sequestration; Kinetic Isotope Effects in Aqueous Systems; Liquid Water at Interfaces
Batteries, Electrochemical Engineering, Separations, and X-ray Characterization
Molecular architecture and function of the microtubule cytoskeleton; X-ray crystallography and engineering; biophysical methods
