Time：2014. 7. 9 (Wednesday) 9:30AM
Location：Conference Room of Basic Energy Science Building
Lecturer：Prof. JingguangChen
Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
Abstract：
Jingguang Chen is the Thayer Lindsley Professor of chemical engineering at Columbia University. He received his BS degree in chemistry from Nanjing University and was selected to study in the USA in the China-USA Chemistry Graduate Program (CGP). He received his PhD degree from the University of Pittsburgh, followed by a Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship in Germany. After spending several years as a staff scientist at Exxon Corporate Research he started his academic career at the University of Delaware, serving as the director of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology and the Claire LeClaire Professor of chemical engineering. He moved to Columbia University in 2012. He has been elected for several leadership positions in the catalysis societies, including the Chair of the Gordon Conference on Catalysis, the director-at-large of the North American Catalysis Society, and the Chair of the Catalysis Division in the American Chemical Society. He has co-authored20 United Statespatents and 280 journal articles that have been cited over 9,000 times.
Introduction：
In the current talk we will use two examples to demonstrate the importance of using surface science studies to identify catalysts and electrocatalysts. Our research approaches involve parallel efforts in density functional theory (DFT) calculations, surface science experiments on model systems, and synthesis and evaluation of supported catalysts under thermochemical or electrochemical conditions. We will first use water electrolysis to demonstrate the feasibility of using monolayer Pt on tungsten carbide (WC) to achieve the same activity as bulk Pt. We will present DFT calculations of similar electronic and chemical properties between monolayer Pt/WC and Pt, synthesis and characterization of monolayer Pt/WC films, and electrochemical evaluation of the activity and stability of Pt/WC for water electrolysis.
We will then use the conversion of biomass-derived oxygenates to illustrate the advantages of using bimetallic catalysts. Bimetallic catalysts often show unique activity and selectivity over their parent metals due to the electronic modification and strain effect. We will present our results on the characterization of Ni/Pt bimetallic surfaces and catalysts under in-situ reaction conditions, further highlighting the importance of using the combined approaches of DFT calculations, surface science experiments, and reactor evaluations. We will also briefly describe our recent research efforts on catalysis for energy applications.