Chemical and Biological Engineering

"Life at the edge"-Surfaces are where the action is.

Our research program is aimed at characterizing and understanding chemical reactions at surfaces. Interfacial processes and surface chemistry are at the heart of technologies associated with the chemical and petroleum industries, functioning of batteries and fuel cells, production of microelectronic devices, and design and fabrication of sensors and diagnostic devices, and play key roles in heterogeneous processes in environmental and atmospheric chemistry. By discovering novel methods to alter and control surface chemistry we seek to develop new catalysts for specialty chemical synthesis, make advanced materials with novel properties, and build functional nanostructures from a "bottom-up" approach utilizing directed manipulation and layered nanofabrication at surfaces and interfaces. Surfaces are central to nanoscience and technology, modifying and controlling important properties of nanoparticles and electrical contacts. We employ a wide array of surface analytical techniques in our work, including scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HR-XPS), high-sensitivity low energy ion scattering (HS-LEIS), and infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRAS).

Research activities include: (i) understanding the structure, reactivity, and catalysis of bimetallic Pt alloys, (ii) characterizing oxidation and reduction reactions at core-shell zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) used for environmental remediation, (iii) characterization of novel PEM fuel cell electrodes, (iv) development of Rutherford backscattering (RBS) as a probe of liquid-solid interfaces, (v) probing chemistry and catalysis at Au surfaces and nanoparticles, (vi) elucidating kinetics and mechanism of ozonolysis of hydrocarbon films, (vii) investigating bond-selective chemistry using low energy electrons and ions, and (viii) measurements and fabrication of nanostructures by self-assembly and directed manipulation.