This researcher is working on heterogeneous catalysis for example biomass conversion to hydrogen, energy storage in batteries and electrocatalysis. They have developed advanced strategies to design microkinetic modeling of water gas shift reaction as well as developed models for metal/liquid interfaces.On the other hand, there is a newly developed concept called scaling relationships which is effectively involved to elucidate reactivity trends of catalytic surfaces and can play key role in predicting suitable catalyst for chemical reactions.
Dr. Jeffrey Greeley talked about their expertise on heterogeneous catalysis and current background of interactions between molecules adsorbed on nanoparticle catalysts. They found that so-called scaling relationships can explain reactivity trends over a wide range of catalytic surfaces and was confirmed by the formation of volcano plots. Adsorption energy is an important measurement to define the strength of the interaction between adsorbed molecules on catalyst surface. They were performing density functional theory (DFT) to calculate adsorption energies through some extent of reasonable accuracy. However, DFT and experimental calculations were equally practicable for inadequate number of systems. According, to their observation it is probable to find the complete potential energy diagram for a surface catalyzed reaction.
Their research brings new clue to know about the binding energies of catalyst surfaces more specifically about their findings on heterogeneous catalyst designing and finding their reactivity. In addition, the examination of adsorption properties of the materials and how this methodology progressed tests and challenges for different heterogeneous catalyst materials.
