Suljo Linic
University of Michigan, MI·Engineering
Most chemical manufacturing relies on catalysts, materials that speed up reactions without being used up. Many of these processes run on heat, which wastes energy and can produce unwanted byproducts.
- Fields
Engineering
Chemistry
Materials Science
- Topics
heterogeneous catalysis
plasmonic catalysis
photocatalysis
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Synthesize plasmonic single atom alloy nanoparticles, silver or gold particles with isolated platinum, palladium, rhodium or ruthenium atoms at the surface, and characterize their geometry.
- Study how light energy absorbed through localized surface plasmon resonance flows at the nanoscale in single atom alloy particles, to test whether it can be funneled into specific chemical bonds.
- Test plasmonic single atom alloy nanostructures in steady-state light-driven catalytic reactions where product selectivity is critical, comparing them with conventional heat-driven catalysis.
- Develop descriptors of catalyst synthesizability, stability and activity from density functional theory calculations, and use machine learning to screen candidate bimetallic catalysts quickly.
- Validate predicted catalysts for CO preferential oxidation and ethylene-to-ethylene-oxide reactions through operando experiments in an iterative loop, producing an open-source discovery workflow.
More about the research
This research looks for better metal catalysts in two ways. One is to drive reactions with sunlight instead of heat. The other is to use computation and machine learning to predict which catalysts can actually be made and will stay stable while working.
Why it matters
Catalysts are central to chemical manufacturing, petroleum refining and pollution control. Sunlight-driven catalysts could make some chemical production more energy efficient and less wasteful by favoring the desired product. Open-source tools that predict whether a catalyst can be made and will stay stable could help industry and academic chemists find practical catalysts faster. Examples include catalysts for cleaning carbon monoxide out of hydrogen and for making ethylene oxide.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
David Flaherty
Georgia Institute of Technology, GA·Chemistry
Synthesize gold-rich alloy nanoparticles containing palladium, platinum or rhodium at diameters of about 1–2, 6 and 10 nm, and track how gas adsorption and reactions restructure them over extended periods.
Matthew Montemore
Tulane University of Louisiana, LA·Engineering·Early-career
Screen alloy-host single-atom alloys with machine learning and density functional theory to find stable, active catalysts for oxidation and alkane conversion, then move top candidates to surface-science and nanoparticle tests.
Mogus Mochena
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, FL·Chemistry
Predict the stability and electronic structure of platinum, palladium, rhodium and nickel single atoms on transition metal carbides and nitrides using density functional theory and machine learning, verified by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy in ultrahigh vacuum.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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