Thursday, May 1st in ETRL 101, 11 a.m. to noon
Refreshments served in ETRL 119 at 10:30 a.m.
Dr. Praveen K. Thallapally
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA
Ph.D in Chemistry and M.S. in Physical-Organic Chemistry, Ph.D. in Chemistry
Advanced Nanostructured Materials for Selective Separation and Extraction
Abstract
In the materials science realm, porous materials, such as polymers, covalent organic frameworks (COFs), and metal organic frameworks (MOFs), are extremely valuable because of their stability and pore size. It is also easy to manipulate their chemistry. Typically, MOFs and COFs have the surface area of a football field, which enables them to capture and store large amounts of gas molecules and use as sensors. Similarly surface functionalization of MOF thin films on magnetic core particles were demonstrated for catalysis and separation applications. During my presentation I will touch up on two different applications (extraction of rare earth elements from geothermal brine solution and separation of noble gases from nuclear reprocessing plants) of MOFs that PNNL is working on.
Biography
My research is focused on the development of novel materials for energy applications, including catalysis, energy storage, carbon capture, and nuclear reprocessing. In the past 10 years I conducted both fundamental and applied research on a large number of novel crystalline organic and metal-organic frameworks (MOF) and membrane materials. The results of my research on synthesis, characterization and separation using porous organic and metal organic frameworks were published in more than 50 DOE technical reports and ~130 manuscripts in international peer-reviewed journals, as well as 6 reviews and 5 book chapters, The scientific impact of my research is evidenced by over 6800 citations and H-index of 47 (Google Scholar) attracted by these publications.
In addition to peer-review journals, the results of my work are disseminated through other professional publications. For example, research on MOFs membrane for CO2 separation was featured in 2013 Presidents Budget report; several other publications were featured on external websites, including Department of Energy – Office of Science website. I also contributed to a report to the Department of Energy on the first economic assessment of solid sorbents for CO2 capture from integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants and first economic analysis report comparing room temperature separation of Xe and Kr from air to cryogenic separation process.
I supervise research by graduate and undergraduate students and mentor junior researchers. I am engaged with broad scientific community as a Topic Editor for Crystal Growth & Design, Advisory Board member for CrystEngComm and Journal of Coordination Chemistry, Guest Editor for Catalysis Today and community Board of Editor for Cryst. Grow & Des. Network. I also (co-)organize professional meetings at the national and international levels, including “Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Conversions and Utilization” (Denver, 2011), “CO2 Capture, Conversion and Utilization” (San Diego, 2012), “Metal Organic Frameworks for Energy and Fuels” (ACS, Philadelphia, 2012), and “Metal Organic Frameworks for Catalysis Applications” (ACS, Boston, 2015), as well as by facilitating scientific exchange as a discussion leader.
Finally, I work with sponsors and industrial partners in defining promising research directions going forward by participating in workshops related to NanoNuclear organized by Department of Energy – Office of Nuclear Energy and Brookhaven National Laboratory (2013) and serving as a reviewer for DOE, NSF and American petroleum research fund.
