Senkan Lab
UCLA Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Heterogeneous catalysis for the future
- Combinatorial methodology
- High-throughput catalyst preparation and screening
- Novel catalyst preparation techniques
- Nanomaterials for catalysis
- Industrial applications
- Materials characterization by XRD, TEM, SEM, EDAX, TGA, TPR, BET
Recent Research Projects
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- Heterogeneous catalysis for the epoxidation of propylene to form propylene oxide (PO)
using molecular oxygen
Propylene oxide (PO) is a versatile chemical intermediate worth billions of dollars per year. Despite its great importance to the chemical industry, its synthesis has still not been perfected. Heterogeneous catalysis may be the solution. We are working on optimizing PO production by using a high-throughput and combinatorial catalysis approach, supplemented with materials characterization studies.
- Catalytic combustion for CCI Thermal Technologies, Alberta, Canada
This research focused on the improvement of catalyst efficiency for explosion-proof catalytic heaters. These catalytic heaters use natural gas, and are the industry standard for applications in hazardous environments where traditional heat sources (including flames and electric heating elements) may pose an explosion hazard. We have applied our catalyst discovery methodology to find inexpensive replacement catalysts to reduce the cost of production of the catalytic heating pads, as well as reducing the amount of wasted supply gas.
- Gel combustion synthesis (GCS) of metal oxide based catalysts
GCS is a versatile technique to produce mesoporous oxide materials for applications in catalysis, materials science, and electrochemistry. We have developed a novel, high throughput method to produce dozens of catalysts in parallel, using a small scale approach that minimizes waste. These catalysts can be examined for a variety of sample reactions, including the epoxidation of propylene by molecular oxygen.
- Metal Organic Framework (MOF) catalysis
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A collaboration with Professor Omar Yaghi's group, this initiative may lead to pioneering contributions to the field of using Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) for applications in heterogeneous catalysis. Not only do MOFs represent a new and exciting field of research, but MOF-catalysis is still in its infancy, and there is much new territory to be explored.
- Pulsed laser ablation (PLA) to produce nanoparticles for catalysis
PLA is a unique technique in the synthesis of nanomaterials; we are able to produce nanoparticles of virtually any metal or oxide in various sizes. Our lab developed a novel high-throughput PLA system to produce nanoparticles of many different materials in a short time span, allowing us to screen the materials as catalysts.
- Catalysts for alternative fuels and the environment
Literally thousands of catalysts were tested using our high-throughput preparation and screening methods to achieve these results:
- Catalysts for NOx reduction in lean-burning automotive engine exhaust
- Catalysts for the steam reforming of ethane to produce hydrogen, an alternative fuel
