Nanostructure Membrane Catalysis

The overall goal of this project is to develop a fundamental understanding of the relationship between catalyst structure at the atomic and nano scales and the resulting catalytic chemistry.

The work encompasses both experimental and computational efforts. The experimental work includes synthesis of nanostructure membrane catalysts using anodic aluminum oxidation and atomic layer deposition, characterization of the membrane materials with physical techniques, and catalytic reaction experiments for evaluating performance and determining kinetics and mechanisms. The computational simulations complement the experimental investigations in this project by providing fundamental theoretical insight at the atomistic level of the catalytaic properties.