"Nanomaterials and their Potential for the Community: From Portable Power to Chemical Sensing"
Douglas B. Gornowich, Margaretta M. Dimos, Janelle D. S. Newman and G. J. Blanchard
Michigan State University, Department of Chemsitry, East Lansing, MI 48824
Blanchard received his BS degree in Chemistry with Honors from Bates College in 1981. He received his PhD degree at the University of Wisconsin – Madison under the guidance of Professor Mary Wirth in 1985. In September, 1985, Blanchard joined Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) in Red Bank, NJ, where he worked on environmental and contaminants research, transient, state-dependent solvation phenomena, and photonic switching. In 1991 Blanchard joined the Chemistry Department at Michigan State University as an Assistant Professor, becoming a Professor in 1999. His research program at Michigan State has focused on interfacial and nanoscience and the development of spectroscopic methods for the characterization and detection of species at the sub-monolayer level. Blanchard has published over 170 papers and has presented more than 240 talks at national and international meetings and universities, and has graduated 24 PhD and 7 MS students since moving to Michigan State.
For his keynote lecture, Professor Blanchard will explain how nanoscience can impact very large and visible issues. Then he will lead us into closer looks at intricate nanostructured materials developed in his laboratory. His talk will give scientists at all levels appreciation for the role of materials research in our future.
Science at the nanoscale has proven to be critical to advances in many processes that are vital to our society. Among the many ways in which chemistry impacts our everyday lives, heterogeneous catalysis, chemical sensing, power conversion and environmental remediation stand out. We will discuss selected recent work from our labs that relies on nanoscale materials chemistry to achieve success.
Nanoparticles can be greatly useful for the sequestration of potentially harmful chemical agents. We have formed a high surface area, chemically selective material for the efficient adsorption of organophosphates and organophosphonates (OPPs). Using silica microparticles in conjunction with gold nanoparticles and surface modification chemistry, we have demonstrated a material with a binding constant of K = 2x10^6 M^-1 for OPPs. These materials are useful for in situ sequestration of potentially harmful agents.
Many nanoscale structures are more complex than nanoparticles. We utilize nanoscale inverse opal structures as scaffold materials for enhancing catalytic processes. Catalysts in this structural format exhibit substantially greater reactivity than the corresponding solution phase or planar-supported catalyst structures. The physical and chemical basis for the catalytic enhancements we observe are related directly to the use of nanoscale inverse opal structures. Several factors are important to varying extents, depending on the reaction being performed.
Please CLICK HERE to download the keynote flyer in PDF format
Please report any bugs to jchaytor@svsu.edu
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