Contact Information:
e-mail:
phone: (217) 333-6841
fax: (217) 333-5052
213 Roger Adams Lab
MC-712, Box C-3
600 S. Mathews Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
Catalytic reactions are everywhere: in your home, in your car, in a wide variety of industries from semiconductor manufacturing to consumer products. Masel's group tries to develop general principles which can be applied to a wide variety of reactions. The work combines a variety of spectroscopic tools and abinitio calculations to get a general understanding of kinetic phenomenon.
Masel's group is concentrating on five areas: microchemical systems, micro fuel cells, catalysis in fuel cells, engineering approximations in kinetics, environmental catalysis. In the microchemical systems area we are building small chip scale chemical reactors for fuel conversion, smart clothing and personal heat sources. We are also examining principles that can be applied to these systems. In the fuel cell area, we are building the worlds smallest fuel cells as battery replacements. We are also examining the molecular basis of CO tolerance in fuel cells, and examining fuel cell catalysis for novel fuels such as formic acid and ammonia. In the environmental area we are examining the catalytic chemistry of odorous molecules produced in farms. We are also constructing combined adsorption/reaction devices for odor control. In a more theoretical effort we are developing engineering approximations that allow one to predict rate constants with pencil and paper calculations. All of the work depends very heavily on being able to do careful surface spectroscopy, and to being able to interpret the results using modern computational tools.
B. Bae, J. Han, R.I. Masel and M.A. Shannon, "A Bidirectional Electrostatic Microvalve with Microsecond Switching Performance," Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 16, 1461-1471 (2007).
Z. Dunbar and R.I. Masel, "Quantitative MRI Study of Water Distribution During Operation of a PEM Fuel Cell Using Teflon (R) Flow Fields," Journal of Power Sources, 171, 678-687 (2007).
K.L. Chu, M.A. Shannon and R.I. Masel, "Porous Silicon Fuel Cells for Micro Power Generation," Journal of Micromechanics & Microengineering, 17, S243-S249 (2007).
I. Oh and R. I. Masel, "Electrochemical Organophosphate Sensor Based on Oxime Chemistry," The Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, 10, J19-J22 (2007).
Z. Ni, J.P. Jerrell, K.R. Cadwallader and R.I. Masel, "Metal-organic Frameworks as Adsorbents for Trapping and Preconcentration of Organic Phosphonates," Analytical Chemistry, 79, 1290-1293 (2007).
R. I. Masel, "Hydrogen Quick and Clean," Nature, 442(7102), 521-522 (2006).
Z. Ni, H.-K. Jeong, R. I. Masel, "Rapid Production of Metal Organic Molecules Via Microwave Assisted Solvothermal Synthesis," J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 128(38), 12394-12395 (2006).
K.-L. Chu, M. A. Shannon, and R. I. Masel, "Improved Miniature Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cells Based on Nanoporous Silicon Membranes for Portable Power Generation," J. Electrochem Soc., 153(8), A1554-A1561 (2006).
W. P. Zhou, A. Lewera, P. S. Bagus, R. Larsen, R. I. Masel, A. Wieckowski, "Size Effects in Electronic and Catalytic Properties of Unsupported Palladium Nanoparticles in Electrooxidation of Formic Acid," J. Phys. Chem. B, 110 (27), 13393-13398 (2006).
