Meeting of the Princeton ACS Section
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Professor Michel. W. Barsoum
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
“1D Lepidocrocite Titania-based Nanomaterials, Their Diverse Morphologies and Exceptional Properties”
Frick Chemistry Laboratory, Taylor Auditorium, Princeton University
Mixer (in Atrium) 6:30 pm; Lecture 7:00 pm
Abstract: Recently, we converted 15 binary and ternary titanium carbides, nitrides, borides, phosphides, and silicides into lepidocrocite-based, one dimensional, 1D, sub-nanometer nanofilaments, NFs, ≈ 5x7 Å in cross-section by reacting them with a tetramethylammonium hydroxide, TMAH, aqueous solution at ≈ 85 °C range for tens of hours. In some cases, the conversion is 100 % precluding the need for centrifuges, filters, etc. We currently routinely make 100 g batches in a lab setting. Depending on with what and the order that the reaction products are washed, the 1D NFs self-assemble into loose, spaghetti-shaped fibers, ≈ 30 nm in diameter, fully inorganic TiO2 gels, pseudo 2D or porous mesoscopic particles. In all cases, the fundamental building block is 1D lepidocrocite NFs, ≈ 3 nm long, that self-assemble into the aforementioned morphologies. At this time, we believe that our materials are the only thermodynamically stable 1D NFs in water, with important implications in photo- and chemical catalysis. The production of hydrogen for times of the order of 6 months with production rates an order of magnitude higher than P25, will be discussed. The adsorption of some cations like uranium and dyes by the 1D NFs, that in some cases outperform high adsorption clays. We also discovered that some common dyes sensitize the 1D NFs which allows for their degradation using only visible light. This is important in this respect because the band gap energy, ≈ 4 eV, of our 1D NFs is a record for titania-based materials due to quantum confinement. Other applications will be touched upon as well.
Biography: Prof. Michel W. Barsoum is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University. He is an internationally recognized leader in the area of MAX phases and more recently the 2D solids labeled MXenes derived from the MAX phases. Most recently he also discovered a new universal mechanism – ripplocation - in the deformation of layered solids. With over 500 refereed publications and a Google h index is 139, his work has been cited almost 100,000 times to date. He was on the Web of Science’s highly cited researchers list in 2018 to 2023. In 2020, according to a recent Stanford University study, he had the highest c-index (combines citations and h-index) in the Materials Science subfield in 2022 and was 8th on the all-time list of material scientists in the world. He is a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Society of Engineering Sciences, National Academy of Inventors, fellow of the American Ceramic Soc. and the World Academy of Ceramics. He is the author the books, MAX Phases: Properties of Machinable Carbides and Nitrides and Fundamentals of Ceramics, a leading textbook in his field. In 2020, he was awarded the International Ceramics Prize for basic science by the World Academy of Ceramics. This prize is awarded quadrennially and is one of the highest in his field. The prize was awarded for “… outstanding contribution in opening new horizons in material research and specifically for your pioneering work in MAX phases and their derivatives.”
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