(6ga) Catalytic Porous Materials with Tailored Nanostructures for Selective and Sustainable Chemical Processes | AIChE

(6ga) Catalytic Porous Materials with Tailored Nanostructures for Selective and Sustainable Chemical Processes

Authors 

Cho, H. J. - Presenter, University of Delaware
Research Interests:

My Ph.D. work with Prof. Wei Fan in the department of Chemical Engineering at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, focused on the synthesis of nanoporous catalytic materials such as zeolites, metal oxides and porous carbon for biomass upgrading processes. In particular, I developed a hierarchical Lewis acid zeolite by confined synthesis with mesoporous carbon, and the catalyst exhibited >3 times higher catalytic performance for sugar isomerization reactions, compared to conventional Lewis acid zeolites. In addition, I showed that Pt nanoparticles supported on Lewis acid zeolites could effectively catalyze glycerol oxidation to form lactic acid with 72% yield via one-step, whereas typical metal oxide-supported Pt catalysts did not produce lactic acid. Furthermore, I achieved biomass-derived p-xylene production with 97% yield, by developing phosphorous-containing zeolite and silica materials. In contrast, conventional Lewis or Brønsted acid catalysts led to p-xylene yield of ~70%, due to catalyst deactivation.

My current postdoctoral work with Prof. Bingjun Xu in the department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at University of Delaware aims at developing multicomponent catalysts which mediate a tandem reaction. I successfully synthesized a family of zeolite-encapsulated metal nanoparticles via a novel synthetic approach. In tandem Aldol condensation and hydrogenation of furfural with acetone, the encapsulated catalyst exhibited a 4 times higher yield of target products than typical supported metal catalysts. I am also exploring new tandem catalytic system mediated by zeolite-encapsulated metal catalysts.

Before starting Ph.D., I had experience of polymer industry for several years. During this period, I had studied and designed polymer properties on a commercial scale through a variety of polymer characterization and processing techniques. This industry experience broadened my perspective towards how polymeric materials should be developed in everyday life.

My academic and industry experience in the synthesis and characterization of inorganic and organic materials as well as heterogeneous catalysis prepares me for my independent research career. I aim to establish a research program on the rational design of advanced nanoporous materials (such as zeolites, carbon, metal-organic framework (MOF), porous polymers, etc.) for energy and environmental applications. My research will be motivated by grand challenges in energy and environmental issues, in particular, shale gas conversion to chemicals, sustainable production of fuels and chemicals, emission control catalysis, CO2 conversion, and catalysis for waste water treatment.

Selected publications: (Total: 25, 876 Citations, h-index: 17)

1. H. J. Cho, D. Kim, J. Li, D. Su and B. Xu, “Zeolite encapsulated Pt nanoparticles for tandem catalysis”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140 (41), 13514-13520

2. H. J. Cho, L. Ren, V. Vattipalli, Y.-H. Yeo, N. Gould, B. Xu, R. J. Gorte, R. Lobo, P. J. Dauenhauer, M. Tsapatsis and W. Fan, “Renewable p-xylene from 2,5-dimethylfuran and ethylene using phosphorus-containing zeolite catalysts”, ChemCatChem, 9, 2017, 398-402

  • One of the top 20 most-downloaded articles published on ChemCatChem, between July 2016 and June 2018
  • Released in the Newspapers Business Standard (http://business-standard.com), Higher Education Tribune (http://www.highereducationtribune.com) and Biomass Magazine (http://biomassmagazine.com)
  • Patent (No. PCT/US2017/054558), entitled “Phosphorus-containing solid catalysts and reactions catalyzed thereby, including synthesis of p-xylene”

3. K. Rieger*, H. J. Cho*, H. Yeung, W. Fan and J. Schiffman, “Antimicrobial activity of silver ions released from zeolites immobilized on cellulose nanofiber mats”, ACS Appl. Mater. & Interfaces, 8 (5), 2016, 3032-3040 (*Equally contributed)

4. P. Dornath, H. J. Cho, A. Paulsen, P. Dauenhauer and W. Fan, “Efficient mechano-catalytic depolymerization of crystalline cellulose by formation of branched glucan chains”, Green Chem., 17 (2), 2015, 769-775

  • Featured on Inside Front Cover

5. H. J. Cho, C.-C. Chang and W. Fan, “Base free, one-pot synthesis of lactic acid from glycerol using a bifunctional Pt/Sn-MFI catalyst”, Green Chem., 16 (7), 2014, 3428-3433

  • Featured on Front Cover
  • One of the top 15 most-read articles on Green Chem. from May to July of 2014

6. H. J. Cho, P. Dornath and W. Fan, “Synthesis of hierarchical Sn-MFI as Lewis acid catalysts for isomerization of cellulosic sugars”, ACS Catal., 4 (6), 2014, 2029-2037

7. H. J. Cho, H. S. Jang, S. H. Lim, E. A. Cho, T.-H. Lim, I.-H. Oh, H.-J Kim and J. H. Jang, “Development of a novel decal transfer process for fabrication of high-performance and reliable membrane electrode assemblies for PEMFCs”, Int.J.Hydrogen Energy, 36, 2011, 12465-12473

Teaching Interests:

I enjoy conveying my knowledge to others as well as exploring new technologies with them. I am comfortable in teaching many of the core chemical engineering courses (Chemical kinetics, Thermodynamics, Mass and Energy balances, and Heat and Mass transfer). I would also be interested in teaching more specialized courses in i) heterogeneous catalysis, ii) nanomaterials chemistry and engineering, and iii) characterization of nanostructured materials as elective courses at a graduate level.