Catalysis

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’

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Highlight in The Conversation

C&EN 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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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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BES: Colloidal nanocrystals to advance catalysis and energy technologies

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000

BES: Colloidal nanocrystals to advance catalysis and energy technologies Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/23/2024 - 00:00

Friday August 23, 2024

SEEC C120

2:00 - 3:00 PM

Abstract

Affordable clean energy and climate action are two of the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations to be achieved by 2030. The vast majority of energy technologies relies on nanomaterials. The progress of these technologies is strongly connected to the ability of inorganic chemists to tune the function-dictating features of nanomaterials. (i.e. size, composition, composition, morphology). In this talk, I will present our recent group efforts towards the synthesis via colloidal chemistry of atomically defined nanocrystals (NCs) which helps addressing current challenges in catalysis and energy conversion.

Biography

Professor Raffaella Buonsanti is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at EPFL. She leads a multidisciplinary research program which spans from nanoscience to materials chemistry and electrocatalysis. She has received an ERC Starting Grant in 2016 and an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2022 in addition to numerous awards, including the Swiss Chemical Society Werner Price in 2021, the European Chemical Society Lecture Award and the Royal Chemical Society ChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship in 2019, the ACS Inorganic Nanoscience Award in 2024. She is also an Associate Editor of ACS Catalysis.

Raffaella Buonsanti | EPFL, Switzerland

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Combined Synthetic, Spectroscopic, and Computational Insights Into a General Method for Photosensitized Alkene Aziridination

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Combined Synthetic, Spectroscopic, and Computational Insights Into a General Method for Photosensitized Alkene Aziridination Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/02/2024 - 00:00

ACS CATALYSIS, 2024, 14, 12310-12317

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Electrolyte–Electrocatalyst Interfacial Effects of Polymeric Materials for Tandem CO2 Capture and Conversion Elucidated Using In Situ Electrochemical AFM

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Electrolyte–Electrocatalyst Interfacial Effects of Polymeric Materials for Tandem CO2 Capture and Conversion Elucidated Using In Situ Electrochemical AFM Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/01/2024 - 00:00

ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES, 2024, 16, 32, 42021-42033

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Converting captured carbon to fuel: Study assesses what’s practical and what’s not

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Converting captured carbon to fuel: Study assesses what’s practical and what’s not Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/22/2024 - 00:00

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Ultrafast Electronic and Vibrational Spectroscopy of Electrochemical Transformations on a Metal-Oxide Surface during Oxygen Evolution Catalysis

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Ultrafast Electronic and Vibrational Spectroscopy of Electrochemical Transformations on a Metal-Oxide Surface during Oxygen Evolution Catalysis Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/18/2024 - 00:00

ACS CATALYSIS, 2024, 14, 9901-9926

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