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46471-SE
Nanoscale Inorganic Catalysis, ACS National Meeting, March 2007, Chicago, IL
The PRF-SE grant helped to support the symposium “Nanoscale Inorganic Catalysis” presented as part of the Inorganic Division programming at the 233rd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago IL on March 25-29, 2007. The co-organizers were:
Raymond E. Schaak (Texas A&M, chemistry), expertise in synthesis and design of catalytically-relevant nanomaterials and architectures.
Perla Balbuena (Texas A&M, chemical engineering), expertise in theoretical modeling of nanoscale catalytic systems.
Donna Chen (University of South Carolina, chemistry), expertise in the surface chemistry of nanoscale catalytic systems.
This symposium was designed to bring together a diverse cadre of scientists and engineers (including chemists, chemical engineers, materials scientists, and physicists) working on different aspects within the broad topic of “nanoscale inorganic catalysis.” As such, this symposium provided a unique, timely, and high-profile forum for the exchange of knowledge and ideas that will hopefully lead to greater synergistic research efforts in the field of nanoscale catalysis, which is highly relevant to the PRF mission.
The symposium included four sessions spread out over three days, and consisted of the following topics and speakers:
Plenary session: Hans-Joachim Freund (Fritz Haber Institute, Germany), Wayne Goodman (Texas A&M), Riccardo Ferrando (Genova, Italy), Graham Hutchings (Cardiff, UK)
Nanoscale Catalysis via Theoretical Modeling and Modern Surface Science Techniques I: Flemming Besenbacher (Aarhus, Denmark), Suljo Linic (Michigan), Sylvia Ceyer (MIT), Anne Chaka (NIST), Donna Chen (South Carolina), Eric Altman (Yale)
Synthetic Strategies in Nanoscale Catalysis: Francis DiSalvo (Cornell), Raymond Schaak (Texas A&M), Bryan Eichhorn (Maryland), Mostafa El-Sayed (Georgia Tech), Ayusman Sen (Penn State), Debra Rolison (NRL), Radoslav Atanasoski (3M)
Nanoscale Catalysis via Theoretical Modeling and Modern Surface Science Techniques II: Jesper Andersen (Lund, Sweden), Theodore Madey (Rutgers), Manos Mavrikakis (Wisconsin), Perla Balbuena (Texas A&M), Duane Johnson (Illinois), Matthew Neurock (Virginia)
These sessions allowed true cross-fertilization of ideas related to several grand challenges in nanoscale catalysis: synthesis by design and to rigid standards, understanding nanoscale catalysis on model surfaces, and theoretical modeling and design of nanostructured catalysts. Clearly these areas, and the challenges they represent, are interrelated, and this symposium allowed modern aspects of these areas to be addressed and discussed. For example, chemists interested in the synthetic design of nanoscale catalytic systems were exposed to key results and challenges identified using model systems and theoretical studies. Theoretical chemists were exposed to state-of-the-art synthetic design capabilities, both in the form of real-world catalysts and model catalytic systems on surfaces. Surface scientists were exposed to new results on the theoretical understanding of model systems and new types of catalytic systems. All of these interactions will hopefully inspire new directions for designing, studying, and understanding nanoscale catalytic systems.
The average attendance throughout the symposium was ~100 people. Funding for this symposium was obtained from the American Chemical Society (ACS), ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry, ACS Petroleum Research Fund, and the Army Research Office. PRF funds allowed us to include several key international speakers in the symposium, helping to defray their travel costs. Specifically, PRF funds were used to offset the travel expenses for the following speakers:
Riccardo Ferrando (Physics Department, University of Genova, Italy): “Structure and growth of alloy nanoclusters”
Graham Hutchings (Chemistry Department, Cardiff University, UK): “Selective oxidation catalysis using supported gold and gold palladium nanoparticles”
Fleming Besenbacher (Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, University of Aarhus, Denmark): “High-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy studies of surface reactions on rutile TiO2(11)”
Jesper Andersen (Department of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Institute of Physics, Lund University, Sweden): “Probing adsorption behavior and reactions at low-coordinated sites”
