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EMS Energy Institute Photo

< Chunshan Song, Director
(814) 863-4466
Biosketch
CV as pdf

< Bruce Miller, Associate Director
(814) 865-3093
Biosketch

< Joel Morrison, Program Development
(814) 865-4802

< Sharon Falcone Miller, Office of Student Development
(814) 863-8893

< Kelly Rhoades, Administrative Assistant
(814) 863-5984

< Ronnie Wasco, EI Safety Officer &
Space & Facilities Coordinator
(814) 863-5384

< Shea Winton, Writer/Editor and Public Relations Specialist
(814) 865-4575

< Elizabeth Wood, Webmaster/ Graphic Designer
(814) 865-5809

Nanomaterials Research

Active projects include those in desulfurization, shape- or regio-selective synthesis of organic chemicals, understanding the relationship between catalyst (nano)structure and its function in organic chemistry and energy-related chemistries, CO2 capture, conversion and utilization, metal chalcogenide thin film materials for PV devices, fuel cell electrocatalysis, clean hydrogen production, biomass conversion for energy technology, and materials development for batteries.

Related interdisciplinary work includes relating nanostructure and reactivity by comparison of measurements and HRTEM image analyses analysis using custom algorithms of soots from combustion of conventional and alternative fuels. Complementary coal and soot molecular/structural modeling starts with HRTEM lattice fringe images and applies in-house scripts to reproduce the nanostructure of carbonaceous materials (soot, carbons, cokes, chars) expediently and accurately in molecular modeling space.

Faculty Specific Research Interests

Dr. Chunshan Song

  • Catalysis in fuel processing for ultra-clean fuels and fuel cells
  • Reforming of hydrocarbon and alcohol fuels for syngas and H2 production
  • Capture, conversion, and utilization of CO2
  • Shape-selective catalysis for synthesis of organic chemicals
  • Catalysis and reaction chemistry for energy conversion as well as synthesis and applications of nano-porous catalytic and sorbent materials

Dr. Serguei Lvov

  • Electrochemical energy conversion in fuel cells and electrolyzers
  • Electrochemical thermodynamics, kinetics, and transport
  • Electrochemical catalysis and corrosion
  • Thermodynamics, electrochemistry, and surface chemistry in high-temperature systems

Dr. Robert Rioux

  • Catalysis in fuel processing for ultra-clean fuels and fuel cells
  • Reforming of hydrocarbon and alcohol fuels for syngas and H2 production
  • Capture, conversion, and utilization of CO2
  • Shape-selective catalysis for synthesis of organic chemicals
  • Catalysis and reaction chemistry for energy conversion as well as synthesis and applications of nano-porous catalytic and sorbent materials

Dr. Michael Jannik

  • Computational Studies of Metal Oxides for Direct Hydrocarbon Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
  • The role of electrolyte/electrode interfacial structure on performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells
  • Computationally aided design of ionic polymer electrolytes for lithium ion batteries
  • Zeolite catalysis for generation of liquid fuels

Dr. Angela Leuking

  • Hydrogen storage in carbons and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)
  • Adsorption in porous media, natural, and synthetic
  • Carbon materials, carbon cages, and the C-phase diagram in presence of H2
  • Hydrogen spillover as initiated by catalysts and facilitated by receptor sites

Dr. Yongshen Chen

  • Bioenergy, catalytic conversion of biomass, nanomaterials for energy applications
  • Heterogeneous catalysis, sulfur poisoning of catalyst
  • Materials characterization
  • X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XANES and EXAFS)

Dr. Jeffrey Brownson

  • Thin film materials synthesis for photovoltaic devices
  • System Integrative Photovoltaics (SIPV): design for building integration
  • System-scale transient energy simulations for buildings
  • Environmental Technology: Sustainable materials design

Dr. Jonathan Matthews

  • CO2 sequestration in coal
  • Molecular modeling of coal/char
  • Coal to liquids research
  • Structural representation of complex behavior

Dr. Randy Vander Wal

  • Energy Transformation – Synthesis and testing of nanostructured catalysts for hydrocarbon processing
  • Energy Utilization – Process control using metal oxide (based) gas sensors
  • Energy Storage - New nanostructured macro-scale carbons for capacitor and battery materials
  • Energy Conversion – Photon capture and conversion processes for oxidation by photo-generated holes and electricity by energetic electrons.

Additonal EI Faculty Research Interests Include:

  • Laser diagnostics – for measurement of species, temperature, pressure and flow
  • Analytical methods - microplasmas, laser-based analytical methods (e.g LIBS)
  • Physical chemistry - laser driven processes, photochemistry and spectroscopy (e.g. LIF, LII, CRD, and DFWM)
  • Materials Chemistry - nanomaterial syntheses (e.g. CVD, plasma, electrospinning, combustion, aerosol, mechanical and ablation), characterization and application testing