Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Time: 9:30-10:30AM
Location: Health Science Technology Building (HST), Forum Room 101
This event features Robert J. Davis, as the Chen Distinguished Lecturer, who will talk about "Critical Role of Support in Heterogeneous Catalysis", as part of the Lehigh University Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering's Spring Colloquium Seminar Series.
Abstract
Heterogeneous catalysts are often composed of catalytically active metals or metal oxides dispersed on high surface area supports to increase accessibility of reagents to the active material. While a support is generally considered to be an inert carrier for the catalytic sites, the support can also play a critical role in creating the catalytic phase. In this talk, two cases in which the support properties are vital to the performance of the final catalyst will be discussed. In the first case, incorporation of isolated Co ions into nitrogen-doped carbon produces a catalyst capable of low temperature oxidation of carbon monoxide through a novel mechanism involving metal ion and support atoms. The second case involves the reduction of Pd-promoted tungsten oxide nanoclusters on a semiconductor titania support to form Brønsted acid sites, which correlates with catalytic activity in carboxylic acid reduction to alcohol using hydrogen. These examples highlight the importance of considering solid catalysts as cooperative ensembles of components rather than non-interacting catalyst and support phases.
About the Speaker
Robert Davis obtained his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University in 1989. He subsequently worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Chemistry Department at the University of Namur in Belgium. He joined the faculty in Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia in 1990 and is currently the William Stansfield Calcott Professor. Professor Davis also served as the Chair of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia from 2002 to 2011. He received the Wilhelm Award of the AICHE, the Emmett Award of the North American Catalysis Society, the NSF Young Investigator Award, the DuPont Young Professor Award, the Union Carbide Innovation Recognition Award, and the UVA Rodman Scholars Award for Excellence in Teaching. Professor Davis has served as President of the Southeastern Catalysis Society, Chair of the 2006 Gordon Research Conference on Catalysis, Chair of Catalysis Programming of the AIChE, Chair of a US government panel charged with worldwide assessment of Catalysis by Nanostructured Materials, Director of the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division of the AIChE, Director of the North American Catalysis Society, Co-Chair of an International Catalysis Workshop in China, member of the Advisory Board of the International Conferences on Solid Acid and Base Catalysis, and member of the editorial boards of Journal of Catalysis, Applied Catalysis A and B, Molecular Catalysis, ChemCatChem and ACS Catalysis.
John C. Chen (1934-2013)
John C. Chen, the Carl R. Anderson Professor Emeritus of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering is an internationally known scholar in transport phenomena of multiphase systems, and a recognized pioneer in boiling and heat transfer. His 1966 paper “Correlation for Boiling Heat Transfer to Saturated Fluids in Convective Flow,” named in 2003 as a Classic Paper by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), developed the "Chen Method" of predicting the rate at which heat must be transferred to liquid to make it boil. The method has become the standard for designing vapor‐liquid boiling systems used in the chemical, power, refrigeration, petroleum, nuclear and gas industries. It has been cited nearly 2000 times in technical articles and textbooks. Professor Chen taught undergraduate and graduate courses in chemical engineering and mechanical engineering over some four decades at Lehigh. During this time, he also served Lehigh as dean of engineering (1999‐2001) and chair of chemical engineering (1983‐1989). Over his career, he published more than 200 technical articles and won 18 major national or international research awards. Among Dr. Chen’s honors are the Melville Medal for archival literature, the Classic Paper Award from ASME, the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Award, and the Max Planck Research Prize from Federal Republic of Germany. In late 2012, he was the inaugural recipient of the World Scientific Award in Boiling and Condensing Heat Transfer, for lifetime contributions to the fundamental understanding of boiling and condensing phenomenon, and for his ability to translate that understanding into better engineering practice. Professor Chen was a fellow and past president of AIChE, as well as a fellow of the ASME and a member of the American Chemical Society and of the American Association for Advancement of Science. Professor Chen is survived by his spouse, Kathy, and several extended family members.Department/Program:
