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Porous Carbon from Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis (USP) Kenneth S. Suslick, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, DMR 0906904.
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Porous Carbon from Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis (USP)Kenneth S. Suslick, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, DMR 0906904 Activated carbon materials (ACMs) have important large scale applications including water treatment, air purification, gas separations, and pollutant remediation. Current commercial ACMs are produced from coal and biomass (e.g. wood, nutshells, etc.) in a two-stage process: initial carbonization and subsequent physical or chemical activation to improve porosity. We have invented a new method using USP for direct production of novel porous carbon materials using inexpensive precursors: sugar and “bicarb” (sodium bicarbonate). The decomposition of the carbonate salt evolves gases that create porosity in the carbon material without sacrificial templating agents. Fortunato, M. E.; Rostam-Abadi, M.; Suslick, K. S. “Nanostructured Carbons Prepared by Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis” Chem. Matl. 2010, 22, 1610–1612. High surface area carbon made by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. (A)_An USP rig based on the a common home humidfier; (B)_Transmission electron micrograph of the porous carbon. (C)_Etching of the surface reveals the internal pore structure.
New Sonochemical Methodologies for Nanostructured Materials Kenneth S. Suslick, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, DMR 0906904 The field of sonochemistry has undergone a renaissance during the past decade, and one of our broader impacts have been the education of the general public about sono-chemistry, e.g., through popularized articles which the PI has written for essentially all the general science magazines and major encyclopedias. Significant pre-college outreach efforts are made by the PI and his research group through the UIUC Dept. of Chemistry outreach program to primary schools, which impact some 3000 youngsters annually. Finally, substantial success has been made in advanced technical training, with 10 Ph.D. students in the sonochemistry subgroup, four of them women. The Suslick Sonochemistry Subgroup. Maria Fortunato, the 3rd year graduate student whose work is presented here is highlighted.