NUCAT Convida: Prof. R. Mohan Sankaran

Para nosso próximo seminário de grupo, gostaríamos de gentilmente convidar a todos para a apresentação do Prof. R. Mohan Sankaran, professor da University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, intitulada "Plasma-Liquid Electrochemical Processes for the Synthesis and Degradation of Chemical". O seminário será na sala G-119 do CT da UFRJ, no dia 30 de setembro de 2022, às 14:00 h. 

Sobre o Prof. Sankaran

Mohan obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1998 where he worked with Prof. Harold Monbouquette on synthesis of cadmium sulfide quantum dots using bimimetic approaches based on phosphatidylcholine vesicles. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2004 where he worked with Prof. Konstantinos Giapis on atmospheric-pressure microplasmas for materials applications. He began his independent academic career in 2005 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. In 2020, Mohan moved to the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering (NPRE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mohan has been recognized for his research by several honors including the NSF Career Award, AFOSR Young Investigator Award, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and AVS Peter Mark Memorial Award. He currently serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. https://speclab.npre.illinois.edu/people/principal-investigator/

Sobre a palestra

Low-temperature plasmas offer a unique chemical environment for the synthesis and processing of materials. For example, thin films can be precisely etched and deposited which is critical to the manufacturing of semiconductor devices. Recently, there have been significant advancements in forming low-temperature plasmas at atmospheric pressure. At these conditions, plasmas can be applied to a wide-range of chemical applications such as catalytic conversion, water treatment, and surface treatment.

In this talk, I will present my group’s efforts to develop an atmospheric-pressure, plasma-liquid electrochemical process for the synthesis and degradation of chemicals. The process is analogous to a conventional electrolytic process in which a direct-current voltage is applied between two electrodes in contact with an ionically-conductive solution, and redox reactions take place at the respective electrodes. Distinctly, one of the metal electrodes is replaced by an atmospheric-pressure plasma which results in reactions at the interface of a gas discharge and solution. In particular, gas-phase species such as electrons and hydroxyl radicals can be injected into solution to produce highly reactive species, including solvated electrons, one of the strongest chemical reducing species. This non-equilibrium chemistry can be applied to challenging reactions. Here, two examples will be discussed. One, we have studied the degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a synthetic organic compound that is a legacy pollutant from previous generations of commercial products. Two, we have demonstrated the reduction of molecular nitrogen to ammonia. The plasma-liquid electrochemical process in both cases is carried out at near ambient conditions, without a catalyst, and using only electricity, which provides advantages over other chemical approaches.