(7ec) Catalysis for Energy: Catalyst Design Based on Spectroscopy and Fundamental Structure-Function Relationships

My research is primarily focused on addressing the most important research question of our time: anthropogenic climate change. In this context, catalysis has a very important role to play, by opening up pathways for the sustainable production of chemicals and fuels. Both my doctoral and postdoctoral research focused on the catalytic upgrading of biomass, through C-C bond formation, as well as hydrodeoxygenation processes. Going forward, I envision using kinetics and spectroscopy to design catalysts and processes for sustainable chemistry.

In my PhD research, with Prof. Dean Toste at UC Berkeley, I developed a selective, active and stable catalyst for the upgrading of fermentation products to diesel fuel precursors. This was achieved by combining theoretical calculations with kinetic measurements and advanced characterization techniques, including X-ray absorption and tomography. In doing this, we correlated the decarbonylation and hydrogenation selectivity of alloy catalysts with the extent of surface enrichment and the strength of binding of reactive species, and developed a kinetic model for reactions of oxygenates over monometallic and bimetallic catalysts. During my postroctoral research, with Prof. Dion Vlachos at the University of Delaware, I discovered structure—function relationships that determine the activity and stability of oxides in hydrodeoxygenation reactions. We combined insights from DFT calculations, experimental kinetics, and spectroscopy to understand the active site requirements for HDO over oxides and to prove the generality of C-O bond scission reaction mechanisms over oxides.

In my future research, I plan to investigate processes to produce fuels and chemicals from biomass. The main challenge for the development of such processes is the discovery of a selective catalyst. This can be achieved by tuning the electronic properties of catalysts, via the use of active supports, bimetallic nanoparticles and the formation of well-controlled surface oxides. The efficiency of these approaches can be evaluated in reactions and the activity and selectivity of the catalysts correlated with a suitable descriptor. Such descriptors can be obtained from spectroscopic methods, including infrared and X-ray absorption and can be combined with input from computational chemistry to guide further catalyst design.

Teaching Interests:

During my PhD at UC Berkeley, I assisted in the teaching Thermodynamics and Process Design and I won the Dow Excellence in Teaching award for my work in teaching Thermodynamics. In my future teaching career, I plan on incorporating active learning in the undergraduate classroom, through group discussions and conversation, in order to engage more students and improve educational outcomes.

At the graduate level, I am planning to develop classes on Catalysis and Spectroscopy. In doing so, I envision discussing topics from my graduate and postdoctoral research in both classes. In my Catalysis class I will cover topics from the fundamental kinetics to the advanced methods of catalyst characterization, while in a Spectroscopy class I plan to further familiarize my students with the most advanced techniques in the field, emphasizing recent advances in X-ray and infrared spectroscopy.