Our research focuses on chemical approaches to problems associated with energy and environment. Current areas of research include

• Solar energy conversion
• Carbon dioxide (CO₂) sequestration
• Environmental/health – related sensor development
• Toxicity of engineered particles

The unifying theme in this research is the manipulation of materials at the nanoscale designed to develop novel chemical functionality.  Detailed information about our research is accessible from the group publications.  Here we provide a brief overview of the current projects:

Solar energy conversion

The goal is to use a zeolite photoactive membrane (see figure) to facilitate visible light mediated charge transport.  Coupling the charge separated species with catalysts is the current focus of this project, with particular interest in  zeolite supported cobalt and manganese oxides for oxidation of water to oxygen.

 Carbon dioxide (CO₂) sequestration

This is a collaborative project with Professor Winston Ho from the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering          department .  We are developing polymer-zeolite composite membranes (see figure) for efficient separation of CO₂ from   N₂, with particular focus on coal-fired power plants.

Sensor Development

Optimizing combustion processes via use of sensors is the ultimate goal of this project.  By appropriate choice of  ceramic materials and catalysts, and using novel fabrication methods of integration, we are developing CO₂, CO, NO_x, NH₃ and O₂ electrochemical sensors.  Makel Engineering Inc. is an important partner in this project.  We are also examining how sensor technology can be adopted to health applications, with particular focus on NO_x sensors for  breath monitoring for asthma diagnosis. (Air-reference free O₂ sensor shown in figure)