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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><div><br></div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><a name="_Toc434675189"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">MS THESIS DEFENSE STUDENT: </span></b></a><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Quan
Do</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">DATE: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Thursday, <b></b>April 28, 2016</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">TIME: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">8:30 AM</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">PLACE: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Mechanical Engineering
Small Conference Room</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">DISSERTATION CHAIR: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Dr. Lars
Grabow</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><hr size="2" width="100%" align="center"></span></b></div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">TITLE:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Theoretical and Experimental Exploration of Transition
Metals as Hydrogen Storage Materials with Catalytic Dehydrogenation Activity<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "> The direct conversion of readily-available methane, the majority component of natural gas, into useful chemicals is limited due to the molecule’s symmetry and
strong C-H bonds. In this thesis, the direct upgrade of methane to desirable higher hydrocarbons is sought. Presently, the most studied upgrade method is the oxidative coupling of methane. However, this method has failed to yield an economically viable process
because of poor carbon selectivities, which result from the over-oxidation of the CH<sub>3</sub> intermediate into CO and CO<sub>2</sub>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">To avoid over-oxidation, the use of hydride-forming metals is explored to catalytically cleave the C-H bond, abstract hydrogen, and form C<sub>2</sub> species in the
absence of oxygen. Theoretical and experimental results show that five early transition metals can form metal hydrides and activate the C-H bond of methane. The understanding gained through this thesis builds the foundation for future work on the utilization
of metal hydrides in important reactions.</span><b><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></b></p></div></div></div></span><style><!--
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