Our research group is primarily focused in the area of heterogeneous catalysis. We seek to understand how the properties and structures of catalysts affect activity and selectivity for specific reactions. We couple our experimental results with detailed characterization of the heterogeneous catalysts to develop relationships between the catalyst structure and the resulting catalytic activity. We currently have projects focused on the synthesis and characterization of new catalytic materials for biofuels applications. For these reactions, we examine many catalytic processes to convert biomass to biofuels: catalytic pyrolysis, catalytic liquefaction, and gasification. In other projects, we are employing new synthesis procedures to enhance the stability of metal-organic framework catalytic materials.
