CAREER: Ordered Mesoporous Mixed Metal Oxides: An Integrated Research and Education Program

这一职业发展计划的目标是在研究和化学工程教育中引入复杂介孔材料分子工程的概念。在研究方面，旨在开发设计介孔多组分V-Mo-M-O(M=Nb，Te，Sb等)的综合方法。并阐明了分子结构和催化功能之间的基本关系。模型介孔V-Mo-M-O氧化物将在介观超分子表面活性剂阵列和嵌段共聚物的存在下，通过分子和纳米晶构建块的两种新的自组装方法合成。各种表面化学探针将被用来阐明这些模型混合金属氧化物催化剂中存在的表面氧化还原、酸性和碱性中心的性质、数量、结构和比活性。该研究项目的分子结构-反应性/选择性关系将用于改进催化剂的设计和开发混合金属氧化物催化剂上烷烃氨氧化的基本机理模型。该教育项目旨在将先进材料的分子工程融入传统的化学工程教育，并培养具有化学和生物体系分子工程背景的化学工程师。该计划包括为本科生和研究生开发两门关于分子工程的新课程，为本科生实施分子工程研究计划，以及向代表性不足的群体推广。外联工作将旨在通过提醒少数族裔和女性工程师注意分子工程方面的研究生研究机会来改善他们接受高等教育的机会。

This objective of this career development plan is to introduce the concept of molecular engineering of complicated mesoporous materials in both research and chemical engineering education. In research, it aims at developing comprehensive methods for designing mesoporous multicomponent V-Mo-M-O (M= Nb, Te, Sb, etc.) oxides and elucidating the fundamental relationships between the molecular structure and catalytic function. Model mesoporous V-Mo-M-O oxides will be synthesized via two novel self-assembly approaches employing molecular and nanocrystalline building blocks in the presence of mesoscale supramolecular surfactant arrays and block copolymers. Various surface chemical probes will be employed to elucidate the nature, number, structure and specific activity of surface redox, acidic and basic sites present in these model mixed metal oxide catalysts. The molecular structure-reactivity/selectivity relationships from this research program will be used to assist in the design of improved catalysts and the development of fundamental mechanistic models for alkane ammoxidation over mixed metal oxide catalysts.The education program is aimed at integrating molecular engineering of advanced materials into traditional chemical engineering education and training chemical engineers with a strong background in molecular engineering of chemical and biological systems. This program includes development of two new courses on molecular engineering for undergraduate and graduate students, implementation of a molecular engineering research program for undergraduates, and outreach to underrepresented groups. The outreach efforts will be directed towards improving higher education opportunities for minority and women engineers by alerting them to the graduate research opportunities in molecular engineering.