James Shogren-Harris
University of Alabama, AL·Engineering·Early-career
Catalysts speed up chemical reactions and steer them toward useful products. Most catalysts that industry uses are solids with messy, poorly defined structures, so it is hard to know which atoms do the work and how to improve them.
- Fields
Engineering
Chemistry
Materials Science
- Topics
heterogeneous catalysis
zeolites
faujasite
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Jul 2030
What they work on
- Determine the local atomic structure of yttrium atoms in zeolite frameworks, using new solid-state NMR and in situ infrared spectroscopy combined with computational studies.
- Relate yttrium site structure to catalytic function through kinetic and mechanistic studies of the Meerwein-Pondorff-Verley reduction, a key step in converting ethanol to butadiene.
- Measure how the concentration of active sites and the zeolite crystal size control product selectivity, to guide catalyst design for making higher olefins from ethanol.
- Synthesize metal phthalocyanines, ring-shaped single-metal complexes, inside faujasite zeolite cages by hydrothermal synthesis, while controlling the central metal and its ligands.
- Quantify turnover frequencies, kinetic parameters and stability of these encapsulated complexes during coupled light alkane oxidation and nitrogen oxide reduction, using combined spectroscopy and kinetics.
- Track metal oxidation states, coordination and pore structure of working catalysts during N2O-driven oxidation, using operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray scattering at the SLAC synchrotron.
More about the research
This research builds catalysts with well-defined active sites inside zeolites, which are crystalline minerals with molecule-sized pores. The goal is to link each site's atomic structure to its chemistry. The projects target two energy problems: turning ethanol into sustainable aviation fuel, and turning the light hydrocarbons in natural gas into liquid products such as methanol.
Why it matters
This work could make it cheaper to produce sustainable aviation fuel from renewable ethanol. It could also help convert abundant U.S. natural gas into transportable liquid fuels and chemicals such as methanol. Clear structure–function rules for single-site catalysts could guide the design of more selective, more stable industrial catalysts for the chemical and energy sectors.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
CAREER: Design of Bifunctional Zeolite Catalysts for Ethanol Upgrading to Sustainable Aviation Fuel
NSF · Aug 2025 – Jul 2030
RII Track-4:NSF: Design of zeolite-encapsulated metal phthalocyanines catalysts enabled by insights from synchrotron-based X-ray techniques
NSF · Jan 2024 – Dec 2027
Spectroscopic and kinetic interrogation of organometallic complexes encapsulated in zeolites for gas-phase alkane oxidation catalysis
NSF · May 2021 – Dec 2026
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.
Michele Sarazen
Princeton University, NJ·Engineering·Early-career
Make hierarchical bifunctional zeolites, which combine tiny and larger pores with metal and acid sites, and test how their pore structure and connectivity change rates of polyolefin hydrocracking and catalyst deactivation.
Haimei Zheng
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Chemistry
Fabricate electrochemical liquid cells with precisely controlled electrode potentials that allow high-resolution, real-time transmission electron microscope imaging of catalysts during carbon dioxide reduction.
The school
University of Alabama: 22 labs on PI Pages, $221M a year on research, 235 research doctorates a year.
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