More than one-third of the students who presented posters at the Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities on March 28 will receive monetary awards for their top-quality efforts.
WSU researchers collaborated with researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China to unravel an underlying mechanism of a catalytic reaction at the atomic level.
Date Time
Clingy Copper Ions Contribute to Catalyst Slowdown
Heavy-duty diesel trucks on the road today are equipped with aftertreatment systems that include selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology using urea solution as a reducing agent to curtail harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from engine exhaust before they reach the tailpipe. SCRs rely on a catalyst to help chemically convert NOx gases into nitrogen, water, and small amounts of carbon dioxide.
Like anything else subject to the laws of nature, catalysts-materials that help a desired reaction efficiently take place-tend to slow down the longer they are in use. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), working with researchers at Washington State University and Tsinghua University, discovered a mechanism behind the decline in performance of an advanced copper-based catalyst. The team’s findings, featured on the cover of the journal ACS Catalysis, could aid the design of catalysts that work bette
December 22, 2020
Illustration of the bonding between a single water molecule to a metal surface that was computationally modeled by the McEwen group and compared to the measurements of the Wu group.
If used in the right way, water could help improve catalysts used for thermochemical reactions: lowering energy barriers and more efficiently converting biomaterials to fuels, according to a new study in the journal,
Although it is generally preferable to remove water from reactions, work led by Jean-Sabin McEwen and Di Wu in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, could lead to better ways of using water in processes that make renewable energy more viable.