Awarded a second grant from QNRF

Methane clathrate (Image source)

In the third cycle of Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) National Priorities Research Program (NPRP), our team (Prof. Mert Atilhan, Prof. Nezih Pala and Prof. Michael Shur) won a grant in the amount of $1,041,641 for the next three years. Our research will find ways to study methane clathrates (a rich source of natural gas that lies at the bottom of oceans) and safely extract them for the use of mankind. My thanks goes to my team members for their tireless efforts. The abstract is as follows:

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Visiting Princeton March 8-9

I'll be visiting Princeton University next Monday to give a talk on:

Sustainable nanoscale solutions for environmental challenges

Grand environmental challenges often require fundamental approaches to the chemistry that best tackles with them. And the good things do come in small packages. Together with the low cost and accessible technologies, there is great potential for durable nanoscale solutions that can be widely applied. Arsenic removal by magnetite (Fe3O4) nanocrystals that are made from everyday chemicals such as edible oils and rust presents not just another way but one with significant potential for the dissemination of the procedure to the end users. With the power of the open source concept, this knowledge can be improved, tested and if necessary revised. Similarly, one can develop reversible carbon dioxide (CO2) capture by using metal oxides from the refuge or junkyards. We suggest that zinc and magnesium mixed carbonates or hydrotalcites offer the most feasible and reversible sorption. Catalysis with nano materials offers significant advantage in greenhouse gas (esp. CO2 and CH4) conversion to environmentally benign chemical feedstocks.

Elected to the advisory board of I-SWEEEP

I was elected to the advisory board of The International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering & Environment) Project Olympiad (I-SWEEEP) by the olympiad committee. The I-SWEEEP 2010 will be held between April 14 and April 19, 2010.

I-SWEEEP, the International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering, and Environment) Project Olympiad, is a groundbreaking science fair open to middle and high school students. It is the largest science fair event of its kind world-wide. I-SWEEEP is organized by the Cosmos Foundation, a non-profit educational organization in Houston with a mission to establish college preparatory K-12 schools focusing on math, science, engineering, and computer technologies in an effort to provide a world-class education to public. Cosmos Foundation currently operates 19 high performing public STEM schools in Texas. Cosmos Foundation organizes this prestigious event with the support of K-12 public school systems, leaders of industry, and higher education institutions. I-SWEEEP works with local, national, and international science fair organizations to bring together the top-ranking participants and qualifying projects from these competitions. Houston will again be home to the third I-SWEEEP in April 14-19, 2010 in George R. Brown Convention Center.

One more in Nano Letters

Jeongmin gave me the great news this morning. His paper on which I'm an author of, got accepted at Nano Letters with minor revisions. Here is the info:

"Pd-sensitized single vanadium oxide nanowires: highly-responsive hydrogen sensing based on the Mott transition", Jeong Min Baik, Myung Hwa Kim, Christopher Larson, Cafer T. Yavuz, Galen D. Stucky, Alec M. Wodtke*, and Martin Moskovits*

Papers in Nanotechnology and Nano Letters

I'm a co-author in the following recent articles:

“Applying analytical ultracentrifugation to nanocrystal suspensions”, J. A. Jamison, K. M. Krueger, J. T. Mayo, C. T. Yavuz, J. J. Redden, V. L. Colvin*, Nanotechnology. 20, 355702-12 (2009).

“Growth of metal oxide nanowires from supercooled liquid nanodroplets”, M. H. Kim, B. Lee, S. Lee, C. Larson, J. M. Baik, C. T. Yavuz, S. Seifert, S. Vajda, R. E. Winans, M. Moskovits, G. D. Stucky, A. M. Wodtke*, Nano Lett., articles ASAP.

Two recent articles

The following articles were out recently:

"Markedly Improved CO₂ Capture Efficiency and Stability of Gallium Substituted Hydrotalcites at Elevated Temperatures", Cafer T. Yavuz*, Brian D. Shinall, Alexei V. Iretskii*, Mark G. White, Tim Golden, Mert Atilhan, Peter C. Ford and Galen D. Stucky, Chemistry of Materials, 2009, 21 (15), 3473–3475.

"Magnetic separations: From steel plants to biotechnology", Cafer T. Yavuz, Arjun Prakash, J.T. Mayo and Vicki L. Colvin*, Chemical Engineering Science, 64 (10), 2009, 2510-2521

Please contact me if you don't have access to these journals and need a copy of the papers.

*denotes corresponding authors.