Lowrie Lecture I: Enrique Iglesia

Enrique Iglesia, Theodore Vermeulen Professor in Chemical Engineering

All dates for this event occur in the past.

130 Koffolt Laboratories
130 Koffolt Laboratories
CBEC, 151 W. Woodruff Ave
Columbus, OH 43210
United States

Enrique Iglesia

Theodore Vermeulen Chair in Chemical Engineering
University of California at Berkeley
Faculty Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Director of Berkeley Catalysis Laboratory


Nanoparticles and Nanospaces in the Practice of Catalysis

 

Abstract

Chemical reactions occur at the smallest of dimensions, where bonds cleave and form. The size of molecules, catalytic structures, and their containers matters at this nanometer scale.  Diversity and specificity in catalysis exploit size to extend the properties of elements from those in their bulk state.  Reactivity in metals and oxides changes markedly as coordination and electronic environment at exposed surfaces vary with cluster size.  Low-coordination atoms on small clusters stabilize transition states for reactions limited by bond cleavage on bare surfaces. Such atoms, however, also stabilize chemisorbed reactants, making small clusters less reactive when steps require such species.  On semiconductors, such as oxides and sulfides, the charge delocalization required at transition states leads to an intrinsic link between reactivity and electronic/optical properties.  Confinement of catalytic structures within small voids preserves their size, protects them from impurities, and allows preferential access by certain reactants, while also selecting specific transition states, thus conferring enzyme-like specificity to chemical catalysis. 

Bio

ENRIQUE IGLESIA is the Theodore Vermeulen Chair in Chemical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, a Faculty Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Director of the Berkeley Catalysis Laboratory. He received a B.S. from Princeton University (1977) and a Ph.D. from Stanford University (1982) in chemical engineering. He joined Berkeley in 1993 after 12 years as a research scientist and manager at the Exxon Corporate Research Labs. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Catalysis (1997–2010) and acted as President of the North American Catalysis Society since 2008. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2008. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and an Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society.

His group addresses the synthesis and the structural and functional characterization of solids used as catalysts for production of fuels and petrochemicals, for conversion of energy carriers, and for improving the energy and atom efficiency and the sustainability of chemical processes. His work combines synthetic, spectroscopic, theoretical, and mechanistic techniques to advance novel concepts and applications in heterogeneous catalysis. He has coauthored more than 300 publications and 40 U.S. patents.

His research has been recognized with the 2012 ENI Research Prize, the Somorjai and Olah Awards of the American Chemical Society, the Wilhelm and Alpha Chi Sigma Awards of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Emmett and Burwell Awards of the North American Catalysis Society, the Cross Canada Lectureship of the Chemical Institute of Canada, and the François Gault Award of the European Federation of Catalysis Societies.  He has also received the Award for Excellence in Natural Gas Conversion, the Tanabe Prize in Acid-Base Catalysis, a Humboldt Senior Scientist Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Noyce Prize, the highest teaching honor in the sciences at Berkeley, as well as several teaching awards within the College of Chemistry.

Category: Seminar