Catalysis

Assigning Surface Hole Polaron Configurations of Titanium Oxide Materials to Excited-State Optical Absorptions

Daniel Morton — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 20:18:55 +0000

Assigning Surface Hole Polaron Configurations of Titanium Oxide Materials to Excited-State Optical Absorptions Daniel Morton Tue, 03/04/2025 - 13:18

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 2025, ASAP

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Do Small Hole Polarons Form in Bulk Rutile TiO2?

Daniel Morton — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 22:47:23 +0000

Do Small Hole Polarons Form in Bulk Rutile TiO2? Daniel Morton Mon, 02/24/2025 - 15:47

THE JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS, 2025, 16, 9, 2333-2339

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Cation Crossover Limits Accessible Current Densities for Zero-Gap Alkaline CO2 Reduction to Ethylene

Daniel Morton — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 17:13:53 +0000

Cation Crossover Limits Accessible Current Densities for Zero-Gap Alkaline CO2 Reduction to Ethylene Daniel Morton Wed, 01/08/2025 - 10:13

ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING, 2025, 13, 2, 823-833

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Anodic Hydrogen Generation from Benzaldehyde on Au, Ag, and Cu: Rotating Ring-Disk Electrode Studies

Daniel Morton — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 17:18:37 +0000

Anodic Hydrogen Generation from Benzaldehyde on Au, Ag, and Cu: Rotating Ring-Disk Electrode Studies Daniel Morton Mon, 12/30/2024 - 10:18

JOURNAL OF THE ELECTROCHEMICAL SOCIETY, 2024, 171, 12, 126507

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Catalyzing the Sustainable Decomposition of PFAS Forever Chemicals

Daniel Morton — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 00:30:44 +0000

Catalyzing the Sustainable Decomposition of PFAS Forever Chemicals Daniel Morton Fri, 12/20/2024 - 17:30

Daniel Morton

RASEI Fellow Niels Damrauer is part of a collaborative team that have developed a new light-driven C-F activation reaction, one that has the potential to help dismantle PFAS ‘forever chemicals’

Find out more

Read the Article

Highlight in The Conversation

C&EN Highlight

Colorado Arts and Science Magazine Highlight

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are synthetic compounds that have found widespread use in consumer products and industrial applications. Their water and grease resistant properties have been part of their attraction in their applications, but these are also the reason that they are now found practically everywhere in the environment, they are very difficult to decompose.

While many chemicals will decompose relatively quickly, studies have shown that PFAS are expected to stick around for up to 1000 years. While this durability is great in something like firefighting foams or non-stick cookware, it is not great when these compounds get into the environment.

This new article, published in Nature in November of 2024, describes the work of a collaborative team of theoretical and experimental chemists, who have developed a new photochemical reaction that could hold promise of speeding up the decomposition of PFAS. A recent highlight of this work, written by the graduate student and postdoctoral fellows who did the research, appeared in The Conversation.

Using a photocatalyst, that absorbs light to speed up a reaction, the researchers were able to ‘activate’ one of the carbon-fluorine bonds, one of the strongest bonds in organic chemistry. The photocatalyst absorbs light, transfers electrons to the fluorine containing molecules, which then breaks down the sturdy carbon-fluorine bond.

While this doesn’t decompose the whole molecule, it is essentially like finding a chink in the armor, it opens the door to degradation of the PFAS to harmless smaller molecules.

This study demonstrated this process on a small scale, and the researchers are looking at how to optimize this reaction so it is more robust and can be done on larger scales. This work is part of a National Science Foundation funded Center for Chemical Innovation called SuPRCat, a research community that will be looking at this challenge, among others.

If it is possible to break down these forever chemicals, it will help prevent these environmental pollutants being in our soil, rivers, and drinking water. Excited to see the next steps from the team!

December 2024

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Bulk Layering Effects of Ag and Cu for Tandem CO2 Electrolysis

Daniel Morton — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 03:31:02 +0000

Bulk Layering Effects of Ag and Cu for Tandem CO2 Electrolysis Daniel Morton Mon, 11/25/2024 - 20:31

CHEMSUSCHEM, 2024, e202401769

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Photocatalytic C–F bond activation in small molecules and polyfluoroalkyl substances

Daniel Morton — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 18:50:57 +0000

Photocatalytic C–F bond activation in small molecules and polyfluoroalkyl substances Daniel Morton Wed, 11/20/2024 - 11:50

NATURE, 2024

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An in Silico Investigation into Polyester Adsorption onto Alumina toward an Improved Understanding of Hydrogenolysis Catalysts

Daniel Morton — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 17:31:03 +0000

An in Silico Investigation into Polyester Adsorption onto Alumina toward an Improved Understanding of Hydrogenolysis Catalysts Daniel Morton Wed, 11/20/2024 - 10:31

LANGMUIR, 2024, 40, 52, 27416-27429

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BEAST DB: Grand-Canonical Database of Electrocatalyst Properties

Daniel Morton — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 03:22:03 +0000

BEAST DB: Grand-Canonical Database of Electrocatalyst Properties Daniel Morton Mon, 11/18/2024 - 20:22

THE JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C, 2024, 128, 47, 20165-20176

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RASEI Innovators awarded Lab Venture Challenge Prizes

Daniel Morton — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 20:59:29 +0000

RASEI Innovators awarded Lab Venture Challenge Prizes Daniel Morton Mon, 10/28/2024 - 14:59

Daniel Morton

Fourteen teams from across the University of Colorado competed for a combined total of $1.25M in startup funding grants as part of the 2024 Lab Venture Challenge (LVC).

Judges from across the network heard Shark-Tank-Style pitches across two evenings, one for innovations in biosciences, and another for physical sciences and engineering. Two RASEI Fellows, Gregor Henze and Adam Holewinski were members of two of the successful teams, being awarded a total of $250k in startup funding ($125k each).

Find out more about EcoValeric Innovations

Visit EcoValeric Innovation's website

EcoValeric Innovations

RASEI Fellow Adam Holewinski was the lead for EcoValeric Innovations, built around an electrochemical process that converts biomass-based building blocks (levulinic acid) into commodity chemicals (4-hydroxyvaleric acid (HVA)), versatile intermediates for producing biodegradable plastics, biofuels and green solvents. This scalable, renewable process has the potential to significantly reduce the reliance on fossil fuels in a sustainable fashion. Also on the EcoValeric team were CEO Roberta Leão and CTO Will Lucas.

Find out more about Whisper Energy

Visit Whisper Energy's website

Whisper Energy

RASEI Fellow Gregor Henze was the lead for Whisper Energy, built around the development of a wireless, battery-free sensor platform for smart buildings. Using machine learning to cut energy consumption by >30%, the platform can provide real-time data to optimize energy use, reduce emissions, and drive toward more energy efficient homes and commercial buildings. Developed through an initial $2M ARPA-E grant, it advances zero emissions in an economic and efficent manner. Gregor was supported by CEO Galen Williams and Technical lead Gerry Conroy.

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