Jingguang Chen: Thayer Lindsley Professor of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University

Prof. Jingguang Chen is a world leader in surface science studies of carbide and bimetallic catalysts and their application to industrial applications. He has made great leaps toward closing the long standing, well-known materials and pressure gaps in heterogeneous catalysis that are essential to convert fundamental surface science studies into industrial practice. This has been achieved by a unique combination of surface science, theoretical modeling, catalysis and in-situ reactor studies leading to the development of novel concepts and catalytic materials for a wide range of chemical reactions. In parallel, Prof. Chen has excelled in a variety of leadership roles to advance surface science and catalysis. He has published over 240 papers in various catalysis and surface science journals and written critical reviews for several leading review journals, including Chemical Reviews and Surface Science Reports. His publications have 6,500 citations and an h-index of 44. He is the inventor or co-inventor of 16 United  States Patents. As an indication of his high visibility, he has given over two hundred invited and keynote lectures.

 

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.  Comparing to the leading Pt electrocatalyst, the monolayer Pt/WC represents a reduction by a factor of ten in Pt loading [1,2].

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 [3,4].  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 [5,6].

[1]  D.V. Esposito, S.T. Hunt, K.D. Dobson, B.E. McCandless, R.W. Birkmire and J.G. Chen, “Low-Cost

Hydrogen Evolution Catalysts Based on Monolayer Platinum on Tungsten Monocarbide Substrates”, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 49 (2010) 9859-9862

[2]  D.V. Esposito, S.T. Hunt, Y.C. Kimmel and J.G. Chen, “A New Class of Electrocatalysts for        Hydrogen Production from Water Electrolysis: Metal Monolayers Supported on Low-Cost Transition Metal Carbides”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134 (2012) 3025-3033.  [3]  W. Yu, M.D. Porosoff and J.G. Chen, “Pt-based Bimetallic Catalysis:  From Model Surfaces to

       Supported Catalysts”, Chemical Reviews, (2012) DOI: 10.1021/cr300096b.

[4]  D.A. Hansgen, D.G. Vlachos and J.G. Chen, “Using First Principles to Predict Bimetallic Catalysts

       for the Ammonia Decomposition Reaction”, Nature Chemistry, 2 (2010) 484-489.

[5]  M. Salciccioli, W. Yu, M.A. Barteau, J.G. Chen, D.G. Vlachos, “Differentiation of O-H and C-H

Bond Scission Mechanisms of Ethylene Glycol on Pt and Ni/Pt Using Theory and Isotopic Labeling Experiments”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 133 (2011) 7996-8004.

[6]  W. Yu, M.A. Barteau and J.G. Chen, “Glycolaldehyde as a Probe Molecule for Biomass-derivatives:  

Reaction of C-OH and C=O Functional Groups on Monolayer Ni Surfaces”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 133 (2011) 20528-20535.