Three ChE Grad Students Receive Awards at ACS National Meeting

Three chemical engineering doctoral students received awards at the 255th ACS National Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 18.

Natalia da Silva Moura was awarded a Catalysis Science & Technology Prize for her oral presentation at the ACS Spring Symposium.

The work presented in this talk is titled "Catalytic activity of anisotropic magnetic nanoparticles activated via RF induction heating" and it is focused on utilizing iron oxide nanoparticles for in situ heat generation applied to catalysis. When these nanoparticles are exposed to an alternating magnetic field, heat is generated on the surface of the particles, which is where catalysis happens. As a proof of concept, we show that the catalytic reaction of butanol on iron oxide follows a different reaction mechanism under RF induction heating when compared to conventional thermal heating. These discoveries may contribute to the management of thermal accumulation on reactor walls in industrial sectors and allow the understanding of reaction mechanism from a different perspective. This work was done in collaboration with LSU Chemistry Department and Oak Ridge National Lab.

Pragathi Darapaneni earned the Division of Physical Chemistry Outstanding Student Poster Award.

The work presented in this poster is titled " Modifying the Hybridization of Transition Metal d Orbitals via Weak External Fields." The transition metal ions are seldom used in luminescent or magnetic applications due to their field dependent properties. This work showcases how the external fields can control the hybridization of transition metal ion in a stable but reversible manner. The phenomenon of manipulating the transition metal energy levels in a host with surface dipoles is demonstrated for the first time using a combination of techniques within the lab and across the campus. The collaborations with the Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics in LSU were very helpful in performing the first principle calculations and state-of-the-art imaging characterizations. The direct implications of this work will be in the development of adaptive luminescent materials, sensors, flexible electronics etc.

Jin Gyun Lee won the Colloid & Surface Chemistry Division Outstanding Student Poster Award.

The research presented for this award is titled "Programming the microdynamics of an active particle: From linear to helical trajectories."  In nature, flagellated microorganism and spermatozoa self-propel along helical trajectories using the organized beating of their flagella. This work shows a new class of metallodielectric colloids that can be programmed to navigate through 3D helical trajectories. The principle presented in here enables the fabrication of artificial materials capable of mimicking 3D active motion which is the key to design future micro-robots navigating through complex biological environments such as tissues.