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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.chee.uh.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:#C8102E;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="600" height="165" style="width:6.25in;height:1.7187in" id="_x0000_i1025" src="https://www.egr.uh.edu/sites/www.egr.uh.edu/files/enews/2022/images/sa_header.png" alt="William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Seminar Series"></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<strong><span style="font-size:16.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Leveraging Photons for Sustainable Catalysis and Energy Transition</span></strong><span style="font-size:16.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:18.0pt">Hossein Robatjazi</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><br>
Chief Scientist, Syzygy Plasmonics Inc<br>
Adjunct Professor, Rice University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Monday, February 27 | 10:00am Central</span></strong><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><br>
</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">CEMO room 105</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#C8102E">LECTURE ABSTRACT</span></strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#C8102E"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black">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.
</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black">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.</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black"> 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.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#C8102E">SPEAKER BIOSKETCH</span></strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#C8102E"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#111111;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<em><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">This is an official message sent by the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering.</span></em><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.chee.uh.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:#C8102E;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="600" height="165" style="width:6.25in;height:1.7187in" id="_x0000_i1027" src="https://www.egr.uh.edu/sites/www.egr.uh.edu/files/enews/2022/images/sa_footer.png" alt="William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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