The Group.
The Catalysis and Nanomaterials Laboratory, directed by Professor Michael S. Wong, is located in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,
in the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University, Houston, TX. Our research program broadly addresses engineering problems using the tools of materials
chemistry. We work in the thematic area of nanotechnology and currently in the application areas of energy (chemicals production from oil/gas and biomass), downhole oil detection and enhanced recovery,
photovoltaics, rechargeable batteries, and the environment (water cleanup, green chemistry). We develop and apply materials synthesis techniques to understand better how structure affects the catalytic
properties of a nanomaterial. How can we design solid catalysts that enable the sustainable use and management of our natural resources?
Our Research.
Structure-property analysis of bimetallic catalysts
Nanoparticle synthesis and catalysis
Heterogeneous catalysis for water cleanup
Hydrocarbon upgrading chemistry
Enhanced oil recovery and downhole detection using nanomaterials
Advanced materials processing of microcapsules, quantum dots, and supported metal oxides.
Recent News.
| We wish a fond farewell to two of our visiting scholars, Ms. Lijie Duan and Dr. Yongchao Li. We wish them both the best and are grateful for their contributions to the group! | September 17, 2020 |
| Leading a team of researchers from UT El Paso, Yale, ASU, and Rice, Dr. Camilah Powell quantified the magnetic and aresenic adsorption propertoes of carbon-coated iron carbide. The paper is out! | September 12, 2020 |
| Very nice work by Sujin (with Camilah and Prof. Dino Villagran) on developing magnetically responsive nitrate reduction catalysts, published in ES Nano! | August 25, 2020 |
| Congratulations to Dr. Sujin Guo, for successfully defending her Environmental Engineering Ph.D. thesis dissertation on Advanced Reduction of Nitrogen-Oxyanions Using Precious Metal-Based Model Catalyst! | July 16, 2020 |
| We are happy to contribute to an international study on nanostructured materials and engineering needs for electrochemical treatment of water! | June 19, 2020 |
| Congratulations to Bo and Lijie for publishing their work on the photocatalytic degradation of PFOA. | June 14, 2020 |
| Nice work on graphene oxide/MOF magnetic adsorbents for brackish water treatment! Collaboration with Julie Zimmerman and Jorge Gardea-Torresday, led by Dino Villagran's group. | June 10, 2020 |
| We are very excited to welcome the two newest members to the group: Mr. Joshua Samba (Ph.D. student in Applied Physics) and Mr. Kiheon Hong (Ph.D. student in Civil and Environmental Engineering)! | June 1, 2020 | Congrats to Welman and Kim, who published their paper on indium-decorated Pd nanotubes for no-ammonia nitrate reduction! | May 28, 2020 |
| Thanks to a new Rice University COVID-19 research grant, we will now work with the Verduzco group and NASA on new ventilator technology! | May 26, 2020 |
| Shengqi (Peter) Hang was selected to receive the Dr. Zevi & Bertha Salsburg Memorial Fellowship from the Department of Chemistry - Congratulations! | May 18, 2020 |
| We are so happy to celebrate the advanced degrees of four group members (2 PhDs, 1 MS, 1 MChE) at the 107th Commencement Ceremony! | May 16, 2020 |
| Ben and Chris' latest work on the catalytic treatment of high-salinity produced water has just been published. | May 8, 2020 |
| First collaboration with Meny Elimelech and his research group! | May 1, 2020 |
| Yan's latest work on heavy oil viscosity reduction has just been published in Fuel. Congratulations to Yan and her team! | April 18, 2020 |
| The Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) has awarded Tanya with a Graduate Student Travel Grant to support her travel to the International Conference on Environmental Systems to present her work on water treatment in space. Thank you, REA! | April 17, 2020 |
| Two publications from the group have been selected for the "Best Papers 2019" Collection by Environmental Science: Nano as part of the Enviornmental Science Best Papers Initiative by the Royal Society of Chemistry. | April 16, 2020 |
| Chris has been awarded with a Graduate Student Travel Grant by the Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) to support his travel to the Permian Basin Water in Energy Conference. Congratulations Chris, and thank you to the REA! | April 6, 2020 |
| Chris has been selected to recieve a travel award to the 17th International Congress on Catalysis. Congratulations Chris! | March 13, 2020 |
| Our most recent collaborative work has been published! Here, we highlight the discrepancies between typical lab-scale experiments and real waters for environmental water treatment applications. Nice work Tanya and Chris! | March 5, 2020 |
| A new paper about using table salt to synthesize chemicals from sugars! | March 3, 2020 |
| Camilah led a three-university team to study the engineering parameters of a Fe3O4-based arsenic treatment unit. Her MagNERD paper is published! | February 12, 2020 |
| Dr. Wong receives the 2019 Southwest Region American Chemical Society Award for his “meritorious contributions to the advancement of chemistry, chemical engineering, chemical education, either pure or applied, to the profession in general.” | February 5, 2020 |
| Dr. Wong begins his term as a Councilor for the American Chemical Society, representing the CATL Division | January 2020 |
| Congratulations Dr. Powell! Camilah successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis dissertation on Development of Non-Conventional Iron-Based Nanomaterials for Water Treatment. | January 15, 2020 |
| Chris' work on fit-for-purpose treatment options for produced water in shale oil and gas fields is an outstanding collaboration between academia and industry. It is now published! | January 13, 2020 |
| Camilah has been selected as the co-winner of the 2019 AIChE Env. Div. Student Poster Competition for her posters on adsorptive arsenic removal and nitroarene reduction by AMF. Nice work Camilah! | December 17, 2019 |
| Congratulations Dr. Yin! Ben successfully defended his thesis work Sensing and Mitigating Water Contaminants with Engineered Gold-Based Nanostructures. | December 12, 2019 |
| Ben's latest work on the catalytic oxidation of methyl-glucoside has just been published. | December 3, 2019 |
| Chelsea's paper, Mechanistic Insights into pH-Controlled Nitrite Reduction to Ammonia and Hydrazine over Rhodium was just published in ACS Catalysis. | November 27, 2019 |
| We welcome Zheng Li (co-advised by Prof. Abbas Firoozabadi) as the newest visiting scholar to the group. | November 11, 2019 |
| We are all very excited to welcome Juan Donoso (Fulbright Fellow) as the newest graduate student in the group! | November 11, 2019 |
| Chelsea's recent work on the adsorptive removal of PFOS using UiO-66 has earned her 1st place in the 2019 Enviornmental Division Graduate Student Paper Awards at AIChE. | November 6, 2019 |
| Priscilla's lastest work on the desulfurization of liquid fuels has just been published in I&EC Research! | October 9, 2019 |
| Dr. Wong received the William M. McCardell Professor in Chemical Engineering endowed chair from the University! | October 1, 2019 |
| We are all very excited to welcome our newest visiting scholar from the Hunan University of Science and Technology, Dr. Yongchao Li. | September 26, 2019 |
| Kim's latest work on the degradation of 1,4-dioxane was just published in RSC Advances. Congratulations Kim! | August 28, 2019 |
| New experiment-theory work on metal-on-metal catalyst design for nitrite reduction, in collaboration with Henkelman group (UT Austin)! | July 18, 2019 |
| Congratulations to Ben and Tanya for being elected to the inaugural class of NSF NEWT Fellows! | June 18, 2019 |
| Congratulations to our newest alumni, Samantha Samaniego, who successfully defended her MS thesis research on Gas Chromatography Study of Sulfur Removal from Jet Fuel using Nanoporous Materials! | June 12, 2019 |
| We are very excited to welcome two new visiting scholars, Kaitlin and Michelle, for the summer. They are local K-12 science teachers joining us through the NEWT RET program. | June 10, 2019 |
| We are pleased to welcome Ms. Xinying Luan (first-year ChBE graduate student) as a visitor to our lab for the summer. | May 30, 2019 |
| Ben's work on PdAu-catalyzed oxidation through in situ generated H2O2 in simulated produced water was just published online in Catalysis Today. | May 12, 2019 |
| Ben and Chris' work on Microencapsulated Photoluminescent Gold for ppb-level Chromium(VI) Sensing was just accepted to ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. | May 2, 2019 |
| Kim's recent work has been featured as the cover article for the special issues of Accounts of Chemical Research "Water for Two Worlds: Urban and Rural Communities". | April 16, 2019 |
| Published! An international assessment of nanotechnology opportunities for groundwater and soil decontamination (in Environ. Sci.: Nano). | April 11, 2019 |
| Chelsea has received the 2019 Richard J. Kokes Travel Award to fund her trip to the 26th North American Catalysis Society (NACS) meeting in Chicago, IL later this year. Congratulations Chelsea! | April 5, 2019 |
| Chelsea paper Highly Defective UiO-66 Materials for the Adsorptive Removal of PFOS has just been published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Way to go Chelsea! | March 5, 2019 |
| Congratulations Kim for the first publication of 2019! | February 22, 2019 |
