Detail:
Abstract: Energy and environment are the two main themes nowadays for sustainable development of human society. The depletion of fossil energy and environmental pollution have aroused serious concerns worldwide. Materials paly crucial rules in advancing new technologies, which have been witnessed in a wide range of industries over the past a few decades. Material property largely depends on its structure when size goes down to nanoscale. This talk will focus on the structure control of materials to realize their exceptional properties in water purification and biomass conversion reactions. The first part will introduce a scalable top-down method to “peel-off” hierarchical porous structure from natural wood and use it for water purification and environmental catalysis. In the second part, a new family of structural catalysts with microwave responsive capability will be covered which shows great potential to break through the energy efficiency limitation of biomass reactions. Biosketch： Dr. Jiahua Jack Zhu joined the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Akron in 2013 as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Zhu received his Ph.D. degree of Chemical Engineering from Lamar University in 2013 and received a Master degree of Chemical Engineering from Nanjing University of Technology (2009). Dr. Zhu’s current research interest covers the fundamental study of multifunctional polymer- and carbon-based nanocomposites and explores their applications in emerging fields such as energy conversion, catalysis, environmental remediation and thermal management. Dr. Zhu has coauthored more than 120 peer-reviewed journal articles, four book chapters and three patents. Dr. Zhu was awarded the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad, Young Leader Development Award from Functional Material Division of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, Early Career Award from Polymer Processing Society and Early Career Investigator Award from ECS Electrodeposition Division.
