Our general research interest is in the kinetics of heterogeneous catalytic processes. Heterogeneous catalysis will continue to be a key technology for the foreseeable future, especially as environmental regulations become more stringent and we look into transforming biomass into fuels. We study fundamental aspects of problems of current interest and employ a wide range of research approaches based on our previous research background in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and industrial practice. We work by combining measurements on high surface area catalyst with the ones on flat, non-porous replicas of the catalyst that are optimized for surface science analysis. Modeling the kinetics and calculating kinetic parameters by first-principle methods complements the experimental effort. One area of particular interest is the development of techniques and equipment fabrication to study catalysts under dynamic reaction conditions.

Our fundamental approach to problems has made interactions with industry quite effective. We usually involve industrial partners in our research. We have been working in the areas of, catalytic combustion of hydrocarbons, water-gas shift reaction for fuel cell applications, partial oxidation of hydrocarbons, NOx traps for automotive applications and transformation of biomass into fuels.

We are a part of the Purdue Catalysis Center, which fosters interaction among faculty and students in catalysis research groups by collaborating on research projects, sharing resources and facilities, and holding weekly joint group meetings.

“Dynamic Multinuclear Sites Formed by Mobilizing Single Atoms: A New Concept in “Heterogeneous” Catalysis”, Christopher Paolucci, Ishant Khurana, Atish A. Parekh, Sichi Li, Arthur J. Shih, Hui Li, John R. Di Iorio, Jonatan D. Albarracin-Caballero, Aleksey Yezerets, Jeffrey T. Miller, W. Nicholas Delgass, Fabio H. Ribeiro, William F. Schneider, Rajamani Gounder, Science, 357, 898–903, 2017.

“Water Activation and Carbon Monoxide Coverage Effects on Maximum Rates for Low Temperature Water-Gas Shift Catalysis”, W. Damion Williams, Jeffrey P. Greeley, W. Nicholas Delgass , and Fabio H. Ribeiro, Journal of Catalysis, 347, 197–204, 2017.

“Catalysis Science of NOx Selective Catalytic Reduction with Ammonia over Cu-SSZ-13 and Cu-SAPO-34”, Christopher Paolucci, John R. Di Iorio, Fabio H. Ribeiro, Rajamani Gounder, William F. Schneider, Advances in Catalysis, 59, 1-106, 2017.

“High-Pressure Vapor-Phase Hydrodeoxygenation of Lignin-Derived Oxygenates to Hydrocarbons by a PtMo Bimetallic Catalyst: Product Selectivity, Reaction Pathway, and Structural Characterization”, Sara L. Yohe, Harshavardhan J. Choudhari, Dhairya D. Mehta, Paul J. Dietrich, Michael D. Detwiler, Cem M. Akatay, Eric A. Stach, Jeffrey T. Miller, W. Nicholas Delgass, Rakesh Agrawal, and Fabio H. Ribeiro, Journal of Catalysis, 344, 535–552, 2016.

“Catalysis in a Cage: Condition-Dependent Speciation and Dynamics of Exchanged Cu Cations in SSZ-13 Zeolites”, Christopher Paolucci, Atish A. Parekh, Ishant Khurana, John R. Di Iorio, Hui Li, Jonatan Albarracin, Arthur Shih, Trunojoyo Anggara, W. Nicholas Delgass, Jeffrey T. Miller, Fabio H. Ribeiro, Rajamani Gounder, and William F. Schneider, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 138 (18), 6028–6048, 2016.