EPSCoR Research Fellows: NSF: Low Temperature Catalytic Radical Generation for Selective Oxidation of Hydrocarbons Enabled by Operando Spectroscopic Tools

This Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) EPSCoR Research Fellows project provides a fellowship to an Associate Professor and training for a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kansas. This work will be conducted in collaboration with researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories. Through the fellowship, the PI will investigate how catalysts control highly reactive molecules involved in converting light hydrocarbons, such as those found in shale gas, into valuable chemical products. The project will determine how catalysts influence the behavior of these reactive species, directing them toward useful chemicals rather than unwanted byproducts. Combining chemical engineering, catalysis, and spectroscopy, this research seeks to understand how chemical transformations can occur more efficiently at low temperatures, advancing scientific knowledge needed for more energy-efficient chemical manufacturing. It will also strengthen partnerships between the University of Kansas and Sandia National Laboratories, provide advanced training for postdoctoral and student researchers, and expand workforce development in areas important to the Midwest and the nation’s energy, manufacturing, and chemical industries. This project will investigate how catalyst composition, oxide dispersion, and interfacial redox behavior control the generation of reactive intermediates during low-temperature oxidation of light hydrocarbons. The work will establish mechanistic relationships linking catalyst structure, surface charge-transfer processes, and gas-phase radical formation, providing new design principles for selective oxidation catalysis. The research will combine catalyst synthesis, fixed-bed reaction studies, operando spectroscopy, and advanced gas-phase diagnostics. Infrared, ultraviolet-visible, and modulation excitation spectroscopies will be used to characterize catalyst structure, charge-transfer dynamics, and surface intermediates under reaction conditions. At the host site, time-of-flight molecular beam mass spectrometry and photofragmentation laser-induced fluorescence will measure near-surface radical species and concentrations. The project will strengthen research infrastructure through faculty professional development, training of postdoctoral and student researchers, expansion of operando spectroscopy capabilities at the University of Kansas, and establishment of a sustained University of Kansas–Sandia National Laboratories partnership supporting future research, workforce development, and educational activities. This project is supported by the EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: EPSCoR Research Fellows (ERF), which supports early- and mid-career investigators in eligible jurisdictions to develop collaborations at the nation’s private, government or academic research institutions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.