[ChBE-Grad] UH ChBE SABIC Seminar this Monday, Feb 27

[Solano, Nicolette]

[William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Seminar Series]<https://www.chee.uh.edu>

Leveraging Photons for Sustainable Catalysis and Energy Transition


Hossein Robatjazi
Chief Scientist, Syzygy Plasmonics Inc
Adjunct Professor, Rice University

Monday, February 27 | 10:00am Central
CEMO room 105

LECTURE ABSTRACT
Traditional fossil fuels-based thermal catalysis accounts for an annual production of nearly $20 trillion of chemicals and consumer products that are critical to the global economy, but their manufacture is linked to extreme energy consumption and overwhelming emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Photocatalysis with plasmonic metal nanostructures is an emerging paradigm with great potential for developing low-carbon solution to catalysis and energy production by enabling otherwise energetically unfavorable chemical reactions to proceed with high efficiencies under photon illumination and at milder operating conditions than those typify conventional catalysts. This talk will summarize our advances in plasmonic photocatalysis, from fundamental understanding of light-matter interactions for chemical bond activations to demonstrating light-driven catalysis of a number of high-value reactions for mitigating anthropogenic compounds and clean fuel production to our pioneering efforts for commercializing low costs and low-emission electrified photoreactor platforms with light-emitting diode (LED) illumination for chemical and fuel production. Electrified photocatalysis fueled by renewable electricity presents a feasible and sustainable route for replacing heat from fossil fuels with inexpensive photons in practical applications. A transition from fossil-based burners in thermal plants to electrified photocatalysis for clean chemical manufacturing while reducing the energy cost also represents a significant leap toward decarbonizing chemical sectors with economic implication, in line with sustainability development goals determined by the United Nations.



SPEAKER BIOSKETCH
Hossein Robatjazi is the Chief Scientist at Syzygy Plasmonics Inc., a Houston-based chemical manufacturing technology company pioneering electrified photocatalytic platforms that use light from LEDs, instead of heat from fossil fuels, to decarbonize the future of chemical manufacturing. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Rice University. He earned an M.S. in Chemistry from Sharif University of Technology, received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Rice University in 2019, and served as a postdoctoral associate at UC Santa Barbara until 2020. Robatjazi is one of the inventors of the photocatalyst technology that shaped the foundation of Syzygy Plasmonics Inc. His research interests lie in areas of nanophotonics, heterogeneous photo-catalysis, and sustainability to address grand challenges in catalysis, energy, and the environment. He is the author of more than 30 refereed publications and received multiple awards and recognitions, including the 2019 Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemical Science, the 2021 Victor K. LaMer Award Finalist (ACS Colloid and Surface Chemistry Division), the Hershel M. Rich invention award, and the ExxonMobil best Ph.D. presenter award.





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