News
Single Atoms Mediate Reaction
Catalysis: Isolated platinum atoms remain stable and active in oxidations
A wet-chemistry method can be used to prepare catalysts featuring single isolated precious-metal atoms supported on a metal oxide surface, according to a research team based in China and the U.S. (Nat. Chem., DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1095). The work may lead to low-cost industrial catalysts and addresses questions in fundamental catalytic science. Supported catalysts consisting of particles of platinum and other precious metals anchored on oxides are widely used in automotive emissions cleanup and many industrial catalytic processes. Because only the metal atoms at the particle surfaces catalyze reactions, manufacturers aim to make these particles as tiny as possible to maximize metal use. But making uniform subnanometer-sized particles remains challenging. And the tiny particles’ tendency to diffuse and agglomerate deactivates catalysts. By tuning the temperature, pH, and other parameters in a coprecipitation process, the China-U.S. team has come up with a synthesis that sidesteps those problems. Using atomic-resolution microscopy and other analytical methods, Botao Qiao and Tao Zhang of China’s Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics; Jun Li of Tsinghua University, in Beijing; Jingyue Liu of the University of Missouri, St. Louis; and coworkers have determined that their procedure yields nanocrystallites of iron oxide with isolated platinum atoms dispersed across the surface. The group compared the single-atom catalyst with other platinum catalysts and with a high-performance gold reference catalyst in CO oxidation reactions. One set of tests evaluated the catalysts’ ability to oxidize CO in the presence of an abundance of hydrogen. The reaction rids hydrogen of low levels of CO, a common contaminant that poisons fuel-cell catalysts. In all cases the researchers found that the single-atom catalyst remains stable under typical reaction conditions and is at least two to three times more active than the other catalysts. “This is very exciting and timely work,” says Charles H. F. Peden of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The catalysis community has been considering whether a single atom can serve as the active site in heterogeneous catalysts, he notes. “This study answers the question with a resounding yes,” he adds.
Chemical & Engineering News ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2011 American Chemical Society
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i31/8931notw6.html
New external funding opportunities database tool for faculty, staff and students
UMSL now subscribes to the COS Funding Opportunities database (described briefly below). This is a great tool with which researchers within your department/college/school can identify funding opportunities posted by the federal government, foundations and other organizations.
Researchers can access online training on the COS User Training Page at http://www.cos.com/usertraining/, which would be another useful link to provide to your faculty, staff and students.
Please note: the database can be accessed directly from a computer on the UMSL network at http://fundingops.cos.com. However, researchers can set up a user name and password at http://www.cos.com with which they can access the database from computers off the network. An individual account with use name and password is also required to save searches and a profile within COS, whether on or off campus.
ABOUT COS
COS is the leading global resource for hard-to-find information critical to scientific research and other projects across all disciplines. Find funding with COS Funding Opportunities: search the world's most comprehensive funding resource, with more than 25,000 records worth over $33 billion. Opportunities posted in COS are categorized by the following purposes: · Artistic Pursuit · Collaboration or Cooperative Agreement · Contract or Tender · Dissertation or Thesis · Equipment, Materials or Facility · Facility Construction or Operation · Meeting, Conference or Seminar · Postdoctoral Award · Prize or Award · Program, Curriculum Development or Provision · Publishing or Editorial · Research · Training, Scholarship or Fellowship · Travel · Visiting Personnel Sponsor types include academic institutions, federal government, professional societies and associations, private foundations, other nonprofits, etc. Search results can be easily narrowed by selecting a purpose, sponsor type, requirement (e.g., academic institution, graduate student or undergraduate student), or top keywords.
Chancellor edits, writes nanoscience book
Jan 19, 2011 by Kylie Shafferkoetter
UMSL Chancellor Tom George edits new book on nanoscience. The University of Missouri–St. Louis Chancellor Tom George has edited the book, “Computational Studies of New Materials II: From Ultrafast Processes and Nanostructures to Optoelectronics, Energy Storage and Nanomedicine,” published by World Scientific (Singapore). This is a sequel to his 1999 book “Computational Studies of New Materials.” “Nanomaterials, i.e., materials with dimensions on the scale of a nanometer, play a prominent role in this current book,” George said. “This includes ultrafast processes stimulated by short laser pulses, such as in connection with fullerenes (any molecules composed entirely of carbon), and the exciting field of nanomedicine, such as selective laser cancer therapy using gold nanospheres and nanorods.” In addition to nanomaterials, topics in the book include energy storage and optoelectronics, such as in connection with polymeric light-emitting diodes, semiconductor quantum wells, and tailored negative-index metamaterials and microdevices. George has co-authored the introduction and 12 of the book’s 18 chapters. “Computational Studies of New Materials II” was co-authored by leading scientists from the United States and around the world. The other co-editors, who also are contributing writers, are Daniel Jelski from the State University of New York at New Paltz, Renat Letfullin from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Guoping Zhang from Indiana State University. George is a professor of chemistry and physics at the University of Missouri–St. Louis and has served as an adjunct professor of physics at Korea University in Seoul. He received two bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and mathematics from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, and earned his master’s degree and doctorate in chemistry from Yale University in New Haven, Conn., followed by postdoctoral work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests are in the theory of chemical physics and laser-materials interactions. He has written 725 papers, 5 authored textbooks and 16 edited books/volumes. He has received many honors and awards, including the Marlow Medal from the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), election to the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, an honorary doctorate in physics from the University of Szeged in Hungary and most recently the 2010 Medal of Honor from Gulf University for Science & Technology in Kuwait. George is an accomplished jazz pianist, playing frequently throughout the St. Louis region, and on occasion in other countries in connection with his travels associated with science and administration.
HPV drug one step closer with $3 million NIH grant to UMSL chemist, his company
A $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health brings a University of Missouri–St. Louis researcher and his company one step closer to developing an antiviral drug that could eliminate many types of the human papillomavirus from infected patients. HPV is the most prevalent sexually-transmitted virus in the world and is the cause of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is second only to breast cancer among lethal cancers that affect women worldwide. Each year, nearly 11,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the U.S. alone.
http://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2010/08/16/bashkinnih/
UMSL scientists earn $1.83 million NIH grant
Scientists at the University of Missouri–St. Louis have received a $1.83 million, five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health for their research on new antiviral drug candidates that they hope will be used to fight high-risk human papillomavirus, or HPV, the cause of most cervical cancer. The grant is called "Biophysics of Drug Interactions with Viral Episomes."
The lead investigator for the project is James Bashkin, research associate professor, who will collaborate with associate professors Cynthia Dupureur and Michael Nichols, all members of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the Center for Nanoscience at UMSL. These faculty members are collaborating with Chris Fisher of NanoVir, LLC, a drug discovery company dedicated to finding treatments for HPV, a primary cause of both abnormal pap smears and cervical cancer. Bashkin is a founding member of the company along with Fisher, who is director of biology at the company based in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Nanotech Consortium Fosters Collaboration
CNS is very pleased to announce that at the recent Research Board meeting the Center for Nanoscience was awarded $124,500 for a period of 12 months to acquire an X-ray Diffraction/Small Angle X-ray Scattering instrument.
Other recent grants include:
DOE grant awarded to Eric Majzoub, PhD, CNS member and Assistant Professor, Physics & Astronomy
$2 Million for "Tunable Thermodynamics and Kinetics for Hydrogen Storage: Nanoparticle Synthesis using Ordered Polymer Templates"
Two NIH grants awarded to Chung Wong, PhD, CNS member and Assistant Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
$217,742 for "Compter-aided design of anti-cancer drugs targeting protein kinases"
$428,375 for "Anti-plague agents targeting YopH of Yersinia Pestis"
One NSF grant awarded to Janet Braddock-Wilking, PhD, CNS member and Associate Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
$343,000 for "Novel Metalloles containing heavy group 14 elements"
Small Grant award in the amount of $1,000
Research Board award to CNS director, Jingyue (Jimmy) Liu, PhD in the amount of $18,000
Sandia National Laboratories provided $100k/yr. for post doctoral support in the research area of "Development of Complex Ionic Hydrides for Hydrogen Storage Applications" to Eric Majzoub, PhD
Research Board award to Eric Majzoub, PhD in the amount of $20,000 for Hydrogen Storage research
Research award to Cindy Dupureur, PhD and Jim Bashkin, PhD in the amount of $12,000 for "Understanding Cervical Cancer Drugs"
Research award to Keith Stine, PhD in the amount of $6,000 for "Nanoporous Gold as a Support for Immunoassays in Cancer Diagnosis"
Research award to Michael Nichols, PhD in the amount of $12,500 for "Immune Receptors and the Alzheimer's Amyloid-Beta Peptide"
Small Grant award in the amount of $1,000
CNS Ph.D student Jinfeng Wang has received the Microscopy Society of America Presidential Scholar Award and a poster presentation Sigma Xi award for his poster on "Controlled Synthesis of ZnO Nanostructures"