Raymond E. Schaak | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Lebanon Valley College, Pennsylvania State University |
Awards | National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award (2006) Beckman Young Investigator Award (2006) DuPont Young Professor (2006) Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar (2007) Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2007) the National Fresenius Award (2011) Penn State Faculty Scholar Medal for the Department of Physical Sciences (2012) American Chemical Society (ACS) Inorganic Nanoscience Award (2016) Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2017) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | inorganic nanochemistry |
Institutions | Texas A&M University, Pennsylvania State University |
Raymond E. Schaak is an American chemist and currently a DuPont Professor of Materials and Chemistry at Penn State University. He assumed his position at Penn State in 2007. Prior to this, he was an assistant professor of chemistry at Texas A&M University since 2003. In 2017 he was named a fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [1]
Raymond Schaak’s research interests primarily lie in the area of synthetic inorganic nanochemistry. His group has made important contributions to the development of a retrosynthetic design of solids and the synthesis of nanoparticles. His interests also include the understanding of chemical reactions that occur with nanoparticles and their formation pathways. Raymond Schaak is also passionate about finding ways to convert catalytic materials that are largely available on earth for energy applications. [2]
Raymond Schaak decided to study chemistry in college because in high school he enjoyed applying math to solve everyday life issues and performing experiments. He began his chemistry research career when he earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Lebanon Valley College, then received his Ph. D. from Pennsylvania State University in 2001. [2]
Raymond Schaak worked on as a postdoctoral researcher with Robert Cava at the department of chemistry at Princeton University from 2001-2003. He then began his independent career at Texas A&M as an assistant professor. If he had not become a chemist, he would have become an architect, graphic designer, or photographer. [2]
The publication, “Nanostructured Nickel Phosphide as an Electrocatalyst for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction”, explained electrocatalytic activity and stability of nanostructured nickel phosphide (Ni2P) for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic solutions. Schaak and co-workers also proposed that other known hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts could be candidates of HER electrocatalyst since Ni2P is originally only known as an HDS catalyst. [3]
Schaak’s other achievements include research on cobalt phosphide (CoP) nanoparticles, study about a general strategy for synthesizing transition metal phosphides and study on a one-pot synthetic strategy for accessing hollow CoPt nanospheres with a Co−Pt alloy structure. [4] [5] [6]
Schaak has received numerous awards and honors for his work and contributions to the chemistry field. In 2006, he has received two awards the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award and Beckman Young Investigator Award, along with the DuPont Young Professor Grant. He received a teaching award in 2007, where he was recognized as a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, and that same year he became an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. In 2011 he was the recipient of the National Fresenius Award, and in 2012 he received the Penn State Faculty Scholar Medal for the Department of Physical Sciences. His most recent awards included the American Chemical Society (ACS) Inorganic Nanoscience Award in 2016, and in 2017 he was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Since 2017 Schaak has been serving as an associate editor of ACS Nano journal. [1]
Nanomaterial-based catalysts are usually heterogeneous catalysts broken up into metal nanoparticles in order to enhance the catalytic process. Metal nanoparticles have high surface area, which can increase catalytic activity. Nanoparticle catalysts can be easily separated and recycled. They are typically used under mild conditions to prevent decomposition of the nanoparticles.
Nanofoams are a class of nanostructured, porous materials (foams) containing a significant population of pores with diameters less than 100 nm. Aerogels are one example of nanofoam.
As the world's energy demand continues to grow, the development of more efficient and sustainable technologies for generating and storing energy is becoming increasingly important. According to Dr. Wade Adams from Rice University, energy will be the most pressing problem facing humanity in the next 50 years and nanotechnology has potential to solve this issue. Nanotechnology, a relatively new field of science and engineering, has shown promise to have a significant impact on the energy industry. Nanotechnology is defined as any technology that contains particles with one dimension under 100 nanometers in length. For scale, a single virus particle is about 100 nanometers wide.
Platinum nanoparticles are usually in the form of a suspension or colloid of nanoparticles of platinum in a fluid, usually water. A colloid is technically defined as a stable dispersion of particles in a fluid medium.
Asymmetric hydrogenation is a chemical reaction that adds two atoms of hydrogen to a target (substrate) molecule with three-dimensional spatial selectivity. Critically, this selectivity does not come from the target molecule itself, but from other reagents or catalysts present in the reaction. This allows spatial information to transfer from one molecule to the target, forming the product as a single enantiomer. The chiral information is most commonly contained in a catalyst and, in this case, the information in a single molecule of catalyst may be transferred to many substrate molecules, amplifying the amount of chiral information present. Similar processes occur in nature, where a chiral molecule like an enzyme can catalyse the introduction of a chiral centre to give a product as a single enantiomer, such as amino acids, that a cell needs to function. By imitating this process, chemists can generate many novel synthetic molecules that interact with biological systems in specific ways, leading to new pharmaceutical agents and agrochemicals. The importance of asymmetric hydrogenation in both academia and industry contributed to two of its pioneers — William Standish Knowles and Ryōji Noyori — being collectively awarded one half of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
An electrocatalyst is a catalyst that participates in electrochemical reactions. Electrocatalysts are a specific form of catalysts that function at electrode surfaces or, most commonly, may be the electrode surface itself. An electrocatalyst can be heterogeneous such as a platinized electrode. Homogeneous electrocatalysts, which are soluble, assist in transferring electrons between the electrode and reactants, and/or facilitate an intermediate chemical transformation described by an overall half reaction. Major challenges in electrocatalysts focus on fuel cells.
Didier Astruc carried out his studies in chemistry in Rennes. After a Ph. D. with professor R. Dabard in organometallic chemistry, he did post-doctoral studies with professor R. R. Schrock at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the U.S. and later a sabbatical year with professor K. P. C. Vollhardt at the University of California at Berkeley. He became a CNRS Director of research in Rennes, then in 1983 full Professor of Chemistry at the University Bordeaux 1. He is known for his work on electron-reservoir complexes and dendritic molecular batteries, catalytic processes using nanoreactors and molecular recognition using gold nanoparticles and metallodendrimers.
Hydrogen auto-transfer, also known as borrowing hydrogen, is the activation of a chemical reaction by temporary transfer of two hydrogen atoms from the reactant to a catalyst and return of those hydrogen atoms back to a reaction intermediate to form the final product. Two major classes of borrowing hydrogen reactions exist: (a) those that result in hydroxyl substitution, and (b) those that result in carbonyl addition. In the former case, alcohol dehydrogenation generates a transient carbonyl compound that is subject to condensation followed by the return of hydrogen. In the latter case, alcohol dehydrogenation is followed by reductive generation of a nucleophile, which triggers carbonyl addition. As borrowing hydrogen processes avoid manipulations otherwise required for discrete alcohol oxidation and the use of stoichiometric organometallic reagents, they typically display high levels of atom-economy and, hence, are viewed as examples of Green chemistry.
Carbon nanotube supported catalyst is a novel supported catalyst, using carbon nanotubes as the support instead of the conventional alumina or silicon support. The exceptional physical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) such as large specific surface areas, excellent electron conductivity incorporated with the good chemical inertness, and relatively high oxidation stability makes it a promising support material for heterogeneous catalysis.
In materials and electric battery research, cobalt oxide nanoparticles usually refers to particles of cobalt(II,III) oxide Co
3O
4 of nanometer size, with various shapes and crystal structures.
Brandi Michelle Cossairt is an American chemist specializing in synthetic inorganic and materials chemistry. She is the Lloyd E. and Florence M. West Endowed Professor of Chemistry at University of Washington.
David Zitoun is an Israeli chemist and materials scientist.
Michael J. Krische is an American chemist and Robert A. Welch Chair in Science at the Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin. Krische has pioneered a broad, new family of catalytic C-C bond formations that occur through the addition or redistribution of hydrogen. These processes merge the characteristics of catalytic hydrogenation and carbonyl addition, contributing to a departure from the use of stoichiometric organometallic reagents in chemical synthesis.
Sophie Carenco is a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, working on nanochemistry at the Laboratory of Condensed Matter Chemistry of Paris. Her research focuses on novel synthetic routes of exotic nanomaterials for energy application such as CO2 capture.
Klaus Müllen is a German chemist working in the fields of polymer chemistry, supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology. He is known for the synthesis and exploration of the properties of graphene-like nanostructures and their potential applications in organic electronics.
Xile Hu is a Swiss chemist specialized in catalysis. He is a professor in chemistry at EPFL and leads the Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Catalysis at the School of Basic Sciences.
Mita Dasog is an associate professor at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has received the Emerging Professional Award, the Canadian Council of University Chemistry Chairs Doctoral Award, is a “Top 25” Global Young Scientist in Sustainable Research, and is one of the top 150 women in STEM for her outreach efforts with youth and young women.
Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a chemical reaction that yields H2. The conversion of protons to H2 requires reducing equivalents and usually a catalyst. In nature, HER is catalyzed by hydrogenase enzymes. Commercial electrolyzers typically employ supported platinum as the catalyst at the anode of the electrolyzer. HER is useful for producing hydrogen gas, providing a clean-burning fuel. HER, however, can also be an unwelcome side reaction that competes with other reductions such as nitrogen fixation, or electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide or chrome plating.
Cobalt compounds are chemical compounds formed by cobalt with other elements.
Platinum diphosphide is a binary inorganic compound of platinum metal and phosphorus with the chemical formula PtP2.