Seokjhin Kim
Oklahoma State University, OK·Engineering
Separating chemicals that are nearly identical takes a great deal of energy in industry. One example is splitting olefins such as ethylene from paraffins such as ethane.
- Fields
Engineering
Materials Science
Chemistry
- Topics
membranes
gas separation
olefin/paraffin separation
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jan 2028
What they work on
- Determine how catalytic atomic layer deposition heals molecular-scale defects in zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) membranes, monitored in real time during gas separation testing.
- Test how growing metal oxides by ALD tunes ZIF membrane pore size and olefin/paraffin selectivity, by continuously controlling and monitoring pore size during in situ modification.
- Use metal ALD to introduce transition metals that interact with diffusing gases, and determine how metal electronegativity affects gas permeance and selectivity.
- Relate ALD processing conditions to membrane structure and separation performance using high-resolution characterization techniques.
More about the research
Membranes, thin materials that let some molecules pass while blocking others, could do this job more cheaply. But membranes face a trade-off. Large pores or defects let gas flow quickly but reduce selectivity, the ability to pass only the desired molecule. Precisely controlling pore size and defects is the key challenge.
Why it matters
More selective membranes for olefin/paraffin separation could replace energy-intensive, costly separation methods in the chemical industry. The design principles learned here could also apply to membranes for other gas, liquid, particle, and biomolecular separations. This could help industries that depend on purification and filtration.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Charles Winter
Wayne State University, MI·Chemistry
Synthesize new volatile and thermally stable lanthanide-containing molecules for use as atomic layer deposition precursors, and characterize how they evaporate and how well they withstand heating.
Seyed Sadeghi
University of Alabama in Huntsville, AL·Physics
Develop an in-vacuum atomic layer deposition system with in-situ characterization tools to fabricate defect-free oxide/gold Schottky junctions thinner than 2 nm that capture hot electrons without scattering.
Virginia Montiel-Palma
Mississippi State University, MS·Chemistry·Early-career
Design heterobimetallic complexes combining a late transition metal with a group-13 metal that bind nitrogen-containing aromatic compounds and cleave their carbon–nitrogen bonds at low hydrogen pressure.
The school
Oklahoma State University: 15 labs on PI Pages, $254M a year on research, 238 research doctorates a year.
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