News | karim-group

Dec 2018. Our recent work on CO oxidation on supported Ir single atoms was published in Nature Catalysis, "Identification of the Active Complex for CO Oxidation over Single-Atom Ir-on-MgAl2O4 Catalysts" here's the link. Great Job Yubing, Jiamin and the entire team.
Dec 2018. Our methodology for measuring the thermodynamics of Pd acetate trimer dissociation and binding of the monomers with trioctylphosphine was just published in Organometallics, "Palladium Acetate Trimer: Understanding Its Ligand-Induced Dissociation Thermochemistry Using Isothermal Titration Calorimetry, X-ray Absorption Fine Structure, and 31P Nuclear Magnetic Resonance" here's the link. Great Job Wenhui, Sergei and the entire team.
Sep 2018. Congratulations to Xiwen, Coogan and Malik on passing their qualifier exams. Great job, fellows!
June 2018. Our recent video article entitled "Ligand-Mediated Nucleation and Growth of Palladium Metal Nanoparticles" has been published in "Journal of Visualized Experiments". Here is the link to our article.
Feb 2018. Wenhui Li passed her preliminary exam. Congratulations Wenhui, Great job!
Sep 2017. Yubing Lu has successfully defended his Ph.D preliminary exam. Congratulations Yubing !!!
Sep 2017. Our recent article on the effect of ligand on controlling the nucleation and growth kinetics of colloidal nanoparticles has been published in "Nanoscale". Link

Wenhui Li was selected to receive a Spring 2017 Graduate Research Development Program (GRDP) award based on her proposal "Solvent tuning on crystal structures and sizes of ligand-controlled synthesized colloidal Pd nanoparticles". The selection is made by the Virginia Tech Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) through peer reviews and the award consists of $1000 for her research.

Wenhui is a third year PhD student working in Dr. Karim's group. Her PhD work focuses on understanding the role of ligands and solvents in the s s synthesis of colloidal Pd nanoparticles.

Karim receives the Junior Faculty Award from the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science

"Professor Karim has received the Junior Faculty Award from the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) at Virginia Tech. The award will fund research on developing a methodology for predictive design of metal colloidal nanoparticles with specific sizes and shapes using a novel combination of in situ thermodynamics/kinetics measurements and kinetic modeling."

Karim and Xin receive an Army Research Office grant to develop efficient catalysts for low temperature oxidation

"Professor Karim and Professor Xin have been awarded a $390,000 grant from the Army Research Office to develop supported single atom catalysts for low temperature oxidation. Low temperature catalytic oxidation is important for many applications including, pollution abatement (e.g. oxidation of CO and unburned fuel in car exhausts), indoor air quality control (e.g. oxidation of volatile organic compounds such as HCHO, benzene), as well as for breaking down chemical warfare agents (e.g. in personal protection systems for first responders in the case of a chemical weapon attack). The PIs aim to decouple the effects of metal nuclearity and electronic properties on reaction mechanisms to identify quantitative descriptors for the catalyst activity to allow the design of more efficient catalysts. The research is based on combining experiments and theory using a novel class of precious metal single-atoms and subnanometer clusters supported on metal oxides."

Karim and Coworkers Featured on the Cover of Chemical Communications

"A recent paper published in the Journal of Chemical Communications by Prof. Ayman Karim and coworkers has been chosen by the editors as the Back Cover for the December 2015 Issue. The paper describes a novel concept for upgrading the vapors generated from the pyrolysis of biomass to fuel precursors without external hydrogen supply. The concept uses a hierarchically structured catalyst with steam reforming and hydrodeoxygenation functionalities being deposited in the micropores and macropores, respectively. The hierarchical structure restricts the larger, more valuable molecules from reaching the active site (e.g. Pt) for steam reforming in the micropores where the smaller oxygenates react to generate H2. The H2 generated from small oxygenates in the micropores is used to hydrodeoxygenate the large molecules in the macropores (on PtFe), thereby eliminating the need for external H2 supply and improving the carbon efficiency of the process.

Karim’s collaborators include Junming Sun from the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Washington State University (WSU), Xi Li, James Rainbolt, Libor Kovarik, Yongsoon Shin from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Yong Wang who serves in a joint position between WSU and PNNL.''

Dr. Karim receives the 2015 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award

"Ayman Karim, Associate Professor ofChemical Engineering has been selected to receive the 2015 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, which recognizes outstanding new faculty based on their research, experience and academic leadership. Karim was recognized for his research on understanding the mechanisms of colloidal nanoparticles synthesis by combining microfluidics and in situ x-ray scattering and spectroscopy.

The 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award was created over twenty-five years ago by 3M's Technical Community in partnership with 3M gives's Giving Program to invest in outstanding young faculty. The purpose of the renewable award is to help the awardee achieve tenure while remaining in a teaching position and conducting research."

Karim and Coworkers Featured in Journal of Catalysis

"A recent paper published in the Journal of Catalysis by Professor Ayman Karim and coworkers has been chosen by the editors as a Featured Article for February 2015. This recognition is given for articles deemed "worthy of extra attention, be it for the quality of the research, the clarity of the exposition or the novelty of the findings." The paper describes the role of rhenium in enhancing the activity of Pt-Re catalysts in the steam reforming of glycerol to produce syngas or hydrogen using a combination of advanced in-situ characterization techniques. Glycerol is an abundant by-product from the biodiesel industry and is also a model molecule to study the conversion of biomass derived sugars.

Karim's collaborators include Zhehao Wei and Yan Li from the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Washington State University, David King of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Yong Wang who serves in a joint position between WSU and PNNL."