Liu Research Group
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
University of Delaware
Recent Publications
“Titanium Silicalite-1 Nanosheet Supported Platinum for Non-oxidative Ethane Dehydrogenation”ACS Catalysis, 2021, 11, 9970–9985
“Isolated metal sites in Cu-Zn-Y/Beta for direct and selective butene-rich C3+ olefins formation from ethanol”ACS Catalysis, 2021, 11, 9885–9897
“Selective
Butene Formation in Direct Ethanol-to-C3+-Olefin
Valorization over Zn–Y/Beta and Single-Atom Alloy
Composite Catalysts Using In Situ-Generated Hydrogen”ACS
Catalysis, 2021, 11,
7193-7209
“Ethylene production by direct conversion of methane over
isolated single active centers”Chemical Engineering
Journal, 2021, 42, No.:
130493
“Decomposition of dimethyl methylphosphonate vapor on ultrathin-film titania photocatalytic light absorber” Chemosphere , 2021, 274, No.: 129719
Recent Group News
Welcome to Liu Group
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Our Catalysis and Materials Synthesis group is housed in department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware. Our research stays at the interface of materials synthesis and catalytic science, with an emphasis on membrane and catalyst technologies to address the most challenging issues in renewable energy and chemical production, sustainable water supply, and environmental remedy.
Group News
Open Postdoctoral Researcher Positions – University of Delaware
Two post-doctoral positions are available in the lab of Prof. Dongxia Liu in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of Delaware. The positions are focused on green and sustainable chemical/energy conversions via heterogeneous catalysis, reaction engineering and electrifiable processes.
Interested candidates should have a background in one or several of the following areas: materials synthesis and characterization (e.g., nanoporous and metal oxide materials), membrane development and separations (e.g., inorganic membranes), kinetics and reactor studies (e.g., gas or liquid phase reactions in plug flow reactors). Additionally, expertise with electrochemistry or electrochemical synthesis is desirable. The position has a term of one to three years. A competitive salary and benefits package is available.
Please email liud@udel.edu to submit a CV
as well as the contact information for 3 references.
We moved to University of Delaware (Jan. 1, 2023)
Our research team moved to Department of Chemical and
Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware.
Congratulations to Dr. Yuan Zhang for successfully defending her PhD thesis! (October, 2022)
Yuan
defended her PhD thesis on October 12, 2022. Her research
addressed "Defect Engineering of Supported Metal Catalysts
for Selective Hydrogenation". She will start her next role
at FDA soon. Congratulations, Dr. Yuan Zhang!
Collaborative paper published on Nature and featured as the cover art for this issue! (May, 2022)
A
collaborative paper "Programmable Heating and Quenching for
Efficient Thermochemical Synthesis" is published in Nature(DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04568-6).)
Congrats to lead authors.
Please see the report of University of Maryland:
Electrified Heating Towards
Green Methane Conversion and Ammonia Synthesis.
Congratulations!
Mann's paper published on Advanced Energy Materials! (Dec, 2021)
Mann's
paper "Direct Nonoxidative Methane Conversion in an
Autothermal Hydrogen-Permeable Membrane Reactor" is
published in Advanced Energy Materials(Adv. Energy Mater.
2021, DOI: 10.1002/aenm.202102782. )
Please see the report of University of Maryland:
UMD Researchers Convert Methane
Without Greenhouse Gas Emissions .
and the report of Chemical & Engineering News:
Reactor converts methane to
heavier hydrocarbons without forming CO2 .
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Dr. Junyan Zhang for successfully defending his PhD thesis! (April, 2021)
Junyan defended his PhD thesis on
April 7, 2021. His research addressed Rational Design of
multifunctional zeolites for biomass conversion.
Congratulations, Dr. Junyan Zhang!
Dr. Liu receives Junior Faculty Outstanding Research Award(Sept. 2020)
Dr. Liu is the recipient of UMD's
2020 Clark School of Engineering Outstanding
Junior Faculty Research Award. The Junior Faculty
Outstanding Research Award is one of the highest honors the
Clark School awards to junior faculty, and was instituted in
2010 to recognize exceptionally influential research
accomplishments by faculty in the first 10 years of their
independent career.
Lu won Hulka Energy Research Fellowship (March 2020)
Lu Liu is the Hulka Fellowship
recipient of year 2020.’s see more details from UMERC. Lu will
focus her research on sustainable bioethanol production
enabled by renewable polymer-derived carbon membranes. She
will develop densification-induced ultra-thin Carbon
molecular sieve (CMS) hollow fiber membranes using low-cost
renewable cellulose acetate-based precursors, which are
promising membrane materials for gas separations. She
proposes to address the following challenges to make CMS
membranes suitable for algae-based bioethanol production.
Membrane cost must be reduced for large-scale production;
and membrane CO2 permeance must be significantly improved to
provide economical CO2 productivity using NPFG feed with
low-CO2 concentration. Congratulations to Lu!
Lu and Kechen's paper published on J. Am. Chem. Soc. (May 2019)
Lu
and Kechen's (Equaly Contribution) tilted "Vapor-Phase
Strategy to Pillaring of Two-Dimensional Zeolite"is
published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. Congratulations!
Su's paper published on Angewandte Chemie (May 2019)
Su's paper tilted "Direct Non-oxidative Methane Conversion
in a Millisecond Catalytic Wall Reactor"is published in
Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Congratulations!
Su Named Outstanding Graduate Assistant (April 2018)
Su Cheun Oh is one of
approximately 80 winners of the University of Maryland
Graduate School’s 2017-2018 Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award(link
is external). The award recognizes the outstanding
contributions that graduate assistants provide to students,
faculty, departments, administrative units, and the
university as a whole. Recipients of the award are among the
top 2 percent of GAs on campus in a given year. The awards
will be given at the Annual Fellowship and Award Celebration
on May 8. Congratulations to Su!
Su won Kokes Travel Award (April 2017)
Su Cheun Oh won a 2017 Kokes
Travel Award from the North American Catalysis Society
(NACS). The award covers hotel and registration fees at the
25th annual NACS meeting in Denver, CO. Congratulations to
Su!
Su won Ted Koch Travel Award (April 2017)
Su Cheun Oh won a Ted Koch
Travel Award from the Catalysis Club of Philadelphia,
Philadelphia, PA. She will use this award to support her
trip to attend the AIChE annual meeting in Minneapolis, MN.
Congratulations to Su!
Mann, Yiqing and Su's paper published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (November, 2016)
Mann,
Yiqing and Su's paper "Advanced
Hydrogen-Permeable Membrane Reactor for Fe©SiO2
Catalyzed Direct Non-Oxidative Methane Conversion"
apppears in Angewandte Chemie Congratulations!
Congratulations to Dr. Laleh Emdadi for successfully defending her PhD thesis! (August, 2016)
Laleh
Emdadi defended her PhD thesis on July 28, 2016. Her
research addressed innovative methods for synthesis of
hierarchical meso-/microporous lamellar zeolites and their
applications in catalytic reactions. Congratulations,
Dr. Laleh Emdadi!
Yiqing was awarded Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship (April, 2016)
Yiqing Wu was awarded the
Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship for a semester in the
academic year of 2016-2017 in a University-wide competition
sponsored by the Graduate School of University of Maryland.
The Semester Dissertation Fellowships provide support to
University of Maryland doctoral candidates who have
excellent qualifications and are in the latter stages of
writing their dissertations. This full‐time,
semester‐long fellowship can be used in Fall 2016 or Spring
2017. The Fellowship carries a stipend of
$10,000, plus a candidacy Graduate School Tuition Award for
the semester in which the fellowship is taken. In addition,
the Graduate School pays the student’s mandatory fees and
provides the student with an $800 credit to help pay for the
individual health insurance coverage for the Fellow.
Congratulations!
Amanda was awarded 2016 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (April, 2016)
Amanda Filie received a
prestigious fellowship award through the 2016 National
Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship
Program (GRFP). For the 2016 competition, NSF received close
to 17,000 applications and made 2,000 award offers. The
program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate
students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based
master's and doctoral degrees at accredited United States
institutions. As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind,
the GRFP has a long history of selecting recipients who
achieve high levels of success in their future academic and
professional careers. Amanda's proposal is developed on the
basis of her research on lamellar zeolites in the group. As
part of her award, Amanda will receive a three-year annual
stipend along with a cost of education allowance for tuition
and fees and opportunities for international research and
professional development. Amanda will start her graduate
study at Harvard University in this coming fall.
Congratulations!
Yiqing won poster presentation award in NECZA 2015 meeting (December, 2015)
Yiqing Wu won the poster
presentation award in NECZA 2015 (19th North-East Corridor
Zeolite Association) Meeting. The poster is titled
“Tailoring Catalytic Properties of Meso-/Microporous Layered
Zeolites By Atomic Layer Deposition". Congratulations!
Amanda won Undergraduate Research Symposium Presentation Award (May, 2015)
Amanda Filie won the best presentation award in Engineering Category of the 22nd Annual Undergraduate and Graduate Research Symposium held at Morgan State University. The talk was titled “Inulin Hydrolysis over Zeolite Catalysts”. Congratulations!
Laleh was Awarded Kokes Fellowship (May, 2015)
Laleh
Emdadi won a 2015 Kokes Travel Award from the North American
Catalysis Society (NACS). The award covers hotel and
registration fees at the 24th annual NACS meeting in
Pittsburgh, PA. Congratulations to Laleh!
Su was Awarded Jacob K. Goldhaber Travel Grant (March, 2015)
Su Cheun Oh has received the
Jacob K. GoldhaberTravel Award from the graduate school of
University of Maryland. Su will be using this award to
support her trip to the 24th
North American Catalysis Society meeting in
Pittsburgh, PA. Congratulations to Su!
Wells and Hulka Fellowships Support Exciting Energy Technologies (March, 2015)
Mann Sakbodin has received the Harry K.
Wells Graduate Fellowships from University of Maryland
Energy Research Center. The $20,000 award, made possible by
a $400,000 endowment from Harry K. Wells (B.S ’43,
mechanical engineering), support graduate research in the
field of sustainable energy generation or storage.
Congratulations to Mann!
Yiqing Wu has received the Hulka Energy Research Fellowship
from University of Maryland Energy Research Center. This
one-year award is also $20,000, and is supported by an
annual gift from Ms. Barbara Hulka. Congratulations to
Yiqing!
Yiqing was awarded Kokes Fellowship (March, 2015)
Yiqing Wu won a 2015 Kokes
Travel Award from the North American Catalysis Society
(NACS). The award covers hotel and registration fees at the
24th annual NACS meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. Congratulations
to Yiqing!
Yiqing's paper published in Journal of Catalysis (December, 2014)
Yiqing
Wu’s paper on the "Spatial
distribution and catalytic performance of metal-acid sites
in Mo/MFI catalysts with tunable meso/microporous lamellar
zeolite structures"appears in Journal of Catalysis.
Congratulations!
Yan and Laleh's paper published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters (December, 2014)
Yan (Dr.
Mi Group) and Laleh's paper on "Layer-by-Layer
Assembly of Zeolite/Polyelectrolyte Nanocomposite
Membranes with High Zeolite Loading" appears in Environmental Science & Technology
Letters. Congratulations!
Laleh wins Harry K. Wells Graduate Fellowship (May, 2014)
Laleh
Emdadi has been awarded the Harry K. Wells Endowed
Fellowship. The award was established to provide annual
fellowships for Clark School graduate students working on
energy engineering and alternative energy sources in
conjunction with the University of Maryland Energy Research
Center (UMERC). Congratulations to Laleh!
Maryland Day Exhibition (April, 2014)
Laleh Emdadi, Yiqing Wu, Baoyu Liu, and
Christina Fontanos show Science and Technology in Liu’s
Catalysis and Materials Synthesis Lab to public on 16th
Maryland Day. See pictures here.
Oluwakonyinsola (Konyin) won Senior Robert L. Wistort Best Presentation Awards (April, 2014)
Oluwakonyinsola (Konyin) O.
Adesoye, a high school student from Eleanor Roosevelt High
School, presented her research project on “Optimizing
Catalytic Capability of Lamellar MFI Zeolites” conducted in
Liu’s group during her one-year internship. She was awarded
Senior Robert L. Wistort Best Presentation Award of Prince
George Science Fair Association. She placed third in the
chemistry category, which is comprised of more than 100
chemistry-related projects.
Konyin will study Chemical Engineering at Columbia University (New York) in this coming fall. Congratulations!
Laleh, Yiqing and Guanghui's paper in Chemistry of Materials is one of the most read articels (March, 2014)
Laleh Emdadi, Yiqing Wu,
and Guanghui Zhu’s paper on "Dual
Template Synthesis of Meso-/microporous MFI Zeolite
Nanosheet Assemblies with Tailored Activity in Catalytic
Reactions" is the most read
articles in Chemistry of Materials.
Yiqing and Will win NSF Travel Award (February, 2014)
Yiqing Wu and William Gibbons have
received travel grants from the National Science Foundation
(NSF) to attend the Short
Course and Workshop on Shale-Gas Monetization , to be
held March 26-28 in Montgomery, Texas. Check here
for details.
Welcome new group members (February, 2014)
Su Cheun Oh, Mann Sakbodin, and Will
Gibson joined the group.
Su obtained her B. S. degree in Chemical Engineering from
UMD and joined the group as a Ph. D. student.
Mann obtained his B. S. and M. S. degree in Chemical
Engineering from Tufts University with Professor Maria
Flytzani-Stephanopoulos. He joined the group as a Ph. D.
student after a few years indurstiral experience.
Laleh, Yiqing and Guanghui's paper published in Chemistry of Materials (January, 2014)
Laleh Emdadi, Yiqing Wu,
and Guanghui Zhu’s paper on "Dual
Template Synthesis of Meso-/microporous MFI Zeolite
Nanosheet Assemblies with Tailored Activity in Catalytic
Reactions" is published in Chemistry of Materials.
Congratulations.
Yiqing and Laleh's paper published in Applied Catalysis A (November, 2013)
Yiqing Wu
and Laleh Emdadi’s paper on "Textural
and Catalytic Properties of Mo Loaded Hierarchical
Meso-/microporous Lamellar MFI and MWW Zeolites for Direct
Methane Conversion" is published in Applied Catalysis
A: General. Congratulations.
Baoyu Liu joined the group as a visiting graduate student (October, 2013)
Baoyu is
a PhD student in Chemical Engineering at the South China
University of Technology. His research interest includes
synthesis, simulation and catalytic characterization of
microporous and mesoporous molecular sieve materials.
Welcome!
We moved to the newly renovated lab (September, 2013)
Our laboratory consists of 1100 sq.
ft of newly-renovated space on the 2nd floor
of Building 090 (room #2223 and
#2227) at the UMD main campus. This space includes a
catalyst synthesis lab (2227) and a catalysis lab (2223).
Click on the picture on the left to view the lab layout.
Map's article on her internship expereince in our group (January, 2013) |
Map reported her summer intership
experience in our group on the News Paper of Chulalongkorn
University, Thailand. She wrote "It has been a great
experience for me. I learned a lot from there and after I
completed this internship, I have a strong intention to
apply the knowledge I got to my work, project and future
career with the hope that it can help drive the future of
science and technology in Thailand to be even better." The
full story can be found here.
| Guanghui Zhu Joined the group as a Master student (January, 2013) |
Guanghui
obatiend his BS degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University in
China. He joined our group for his MS study starting from
this Januray. He is co-advised by Dr. Choi and
works on the project of "Micro-reactor design for efficient
energy conversion". Welcome!
| Yao (Jason) He Joined the group as a visiting graduate student (January, 2013) |
Jason
obtained his BE and MS degrees from Huazhong University of
Science and Technology and Hong Kong University of Science
and Technology, respectively, both in Department of
Mechanical Engineering. He is currently a PhD candidate in
Engineering Thermal Physics at the South China University of
Technology. He joined our group to work on the project of
"Heterogeneous Conversion of Biomass Renewables". Welcome!
| Yiqing received the first place award of the Catalysis Club of Philadelphia’s Annual Student Poster Contest. Congratulations! (October, 2012) |
Yiqing, Laleh, and Tery attended the Catalysis Club
of Philadelphia’s Annual Student Poster Contest.
Yiqing presented his poster, "Catalytic Characterization of
Hierarchical Meso-/microporous MFI and MWW Zeolites", and
was one of the four first place winners. The award was voted
by the Catalysis Club of Philadelphia’s members and guests
for the top 10 participants in the first round, and then was
selected by a panel of industrial judges for the top five
posters in the second round. The prize inlcudes a $100 check
and an invitation to present his work at the monthly
Catalysis Club meeting.
The Catalysis Club of Philadelphia was founded in 1949 to
promote the advancement of knowledge of the science of
catalysis. The Club is a nonprofit organization serving
members in the Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and
Delaware area. The club is currently sponsored by Air
Products, Zeolyst, The PQ Corporation, Du Pont, Arkema, and
Johnson Matthey Catalysis.
| Tery and Helen Joined the group (Aug. 2012) |
Tery obatiend his
Master degree in Chemical Engineering from Michigan
Technological University. He is working on the project
"Hybrid Inorganic-Organic Mesoporous Zeolites".
Helen is a rising senior in the rigorous Science and Technology Program at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, MD. She hopes to gain research experience in order to enhance her scientific education and future career. She is working on the project "Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous zeolites" with Laleh.
| Map went back to Thailand (July, 2012) |
Map
finished her summer intern and returned to Thailand. She did
a great job in the group. Good luck to her future study.
| Dr. Liu Awarded the ACS Petroleum Research Fund (PRF). (July, 2012) |
Dr. Liu Awarded the ACS Petroleum Research Fund (PRF). Full story here. (July, 2012)
| Science reported Self-Pillared Zeolite Nanosheets. (June, 2012) |
Synthesis of Self-Pillared Zeolite
Nanosheets by Repetitive Branching" is published in Science.
See more details here , and see the report on Science Daily and DOE
Discovery & Innovation.
| Tom won ASPIRE Award (May, 2012) |
Thomas Hoff won A scholars Program for
Indurstry-Oriented Research on Engineering (ASPIRE) Award to
support his summer research on "Hydrolysis of Biomass over
Heterogeneous Zeolite Catalysts." Congratulations to Tom!
| Map Joined the group (May, 2012) |
Pimmolpong Sriyapai (Map), a junior
student from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, joined
our group to start her summer research on "Nano-Engineering
Zeolite Films on Proton Conducting Membranes" Welcome!
| Dr. Liu visited Grace (March, 2012) |
Dr. Liu was invited to visit W. R. Grace & Co.
and to give a seminar on synthesis and characterization of
micro/mesoporous zeolite catalysts.
| Welcome Yiqing and Laleh! (March, 2012) |
Yiqing and Laleh joined the group to start their PhD studies, Welcome! (March, 2012)
| Dr. Liu Joined UMD (Janary, 2012) |
Dr. Liu joined the Department of
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UMD in Jan. 1st.
2012.
| Welcome to join our group. (September, 2011) |
We
always look for outstanding undergraduates, MS, PhD graduate
students, and postdoctoral fellows to join our team.
| Most read article in ACS Catalysis. (Janary, 2011) |
Dongxia's paper appears in the first issue of ACS Catalysis, and it is one of the most read articles.