Research Expertise and Interest
decarbonization of the chemical industry and energy sector
Research Description
Neil Razdan is an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His lab's research center on the development of thermochemical and electrochemical catalytic technologies relevant for the decarbonization of the chemical industry and energy sector. Realizing emission-free strategies for the industrial-scale production of fuels and chemicals requires an improved understanding of catalysis in new reaction media (e.g., molten salts) and with recalcitrant sources of carbon (e.g., CH4 and plastic waste). To this end, they leverage fundamental concepts in chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, and electrochemistry to elicit precise mechanistic information in complex catalytic systems geared towards enabling carbon circularity. Molecular-level clarification of catalytic reactivity is accomplished through operando measurement and control of chemical potentials of elusive catalytic participants (e.g. surface intermediates) using electrochemical, spectroscopic, and chemical transient methods. These experimental studies are complemented with the application and development of rigorous analytical formalisms of reaction kinetics and mass transport.
Their current research projects include the following:
- Molten salt mediated conversion of methane and plastic waste into high-value fuels and chemicals
- Tandem electrochemical-thermochemical strategies for the selective hydrogenation of polyfunctional molecules derived from biogenic feedstocks