Beyond Adsorption: Exploring the silent aspect of carbon porosity

Fecha: Miércoles 6 de octubre de 2021.
Hora: 12:00h.
Lugar: Salón de Grados de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad de Granada.

Conferenciante: Teresa J. Bandosz (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The City College of New York).

"Dr. Bandosz is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the City College of New York (Ph.D. In Chemical Engineering (Krakow Polytechnic); D.Sci. in Physical Chemistry (Maria Curie-Sklodowska University). She has a broad experience in the field of materials preparation, and their applications to environmental problems related to development of adsorbents for gas separation. For three years she was associated with Dalian University of Technology in China as a sky scholar/ guest professor of Chemical Engineering. She edited the book “Activated carbon surface in environmental remediation,” published by Elsevier (2006) and coauthored " Detoxification of Chemical Warfare Agents: From WWI to Multifunctional Nanocomposite Approaches" published in 2018. Her work during last 30 years has resulted in 7 US patents and over 400 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Her recent research interests include synthesis of Graphene/ MOF, Graphene/hydroxide composites for separation and energy harvesting applications, visible light photoactivity of carbonaceous materials, energy storage, oxygen reduction catalysts and CO2 sequestration and reduction. Since 2014 she is a coeditor of Journal of Colloid and Interface Science and serves on the Editorial Boards of Carbon, C, Adsorption Science and Technology, Chemical Engineering Journal and Applied Surface Science. She was also on the Advisory Board of American Carbon Society, on the Board of Directors of International Adsorption Society. She is a Fulbright Senior Scholar, Fellow of the American Carbon Society, Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and American Carbon Society Graffin Lecturer in Carbon Science and Technology. Her Hirsh Index is 76 (excluding self-citations)."

Información sobre la conferencia:
"In this talk we would like to provide an insight into our perspectives on the new applications of nanoporous carbons that were inspired by the graphene features and its presence in these carbonaceous materials. A significant advancement to the “new” science of the “old” nanoporous carbons is in their application as photocatalysts for water splitting, as gas sensors and ORR and CO2RR catalysts. In these applications both surface chemistry and porosity are crucial factors determining the specific performance. We will show an excellent gas sensing capability of carbons and their response selectivity. Photoactivity and electron transfer reactions will also be addressed. The mechanism of the observed processes based on an involvement of porosity will be proposed.

Our inspiration in the science of graphene combined with the comprehensive knowledge of activated carbons surface chemistry, texture, morphology and adsorptive/reactive adsorptive properties directed us to look at carbons from another perspective; from the perspective of nanotechnology. The results obtained by us and briefly addressed here are very new and many questions have arisen, and are left unanswered, and many approaches need improvements. One has to take into consideration that explaining the complex phenomena on nanoporous carbons is not easy owing to the combination of the porosity and surface chemistry effects. Practically either one cannot exist without another and they add up to that's specific and unique synergy provided only by these materials. One thing is certainly true: “adventurous” graphene features can be found in nanoporous carbons and they deserve to be explored and used to their full extent."

Organiza: Departamento de Química Inorgánica y la Unidad de Excelencia de Química aplicada a Biomedicina y Medioambiente.