• North American Catalysis Society Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis (2007)
• Award for Excellence in Teaching from Rodman Scholars Program (2000)
• NSF Young Investigator Award
• DuPont Young Professor Award
• Union Carbide Innovation Recognition Award

We are interested in developing new or improved catalytic materials by studying how the structure of a catalyst affects its performance in a chemical reaction.

Heterogeneous catalysts prepared in our laboratory are often composed of small metal particles supported on an oxide carrier. Since the metal particles expose a significant fraction of their atoms to the surface, the interface between the underlying support and the particle is expected to contribute to the overall rate and selectivity of a catalytic reaction.

A wide variety of analytical techniques are used to examine the metal particles and metal-support interface. These include adsorption of simple gases, temperature programmed desorption, transmission electron microscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, laser Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction. Additionally, x-ray absorption spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation is an important tool for examining catalysts. Analysis of the extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and the x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) provides information on the atomic and electronic structure of catalyst components.

Detailed kinetic studies of selected probe reactions are also carried out over catalysts in laboratory microreactors. The combination of physical and chemical methods allows for new relationships between catalyst structure and chemical reactivity to be discovered.

Selected Publications

M.A. Haider, M.R. Gogate and R.J. Davis, "Fe-Promotion of Supported Rh Catalysts for Direct Conversion of Syngas to Ethanol" J. Catal. 261 (2009) 9-16.

B.N. Zope and R.J. Davis, "Influence of Reactor Configuration on the Selective Oxidation of Glycerol over Au/TiO2" Topics in Catalysis, 52 (2009) 269-277.

Y. Xi and R.J. Davis, "Influence of Water on the Activity and Stability of Activated Mg-Al Hydrotalcites for the Transesterification of Tributyrin with Methanol" J. Catal. 254 (2008) 190-197.

W.C. Ketchie, E.P. Maris and R.J. Davis, “In-situ X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy of Supported Ru Catalysts in the Aqueous Phase,” Chem. Mater. 19 (2007) 3406-3411.

E.P. Maris and R.J. Davis, “ Hydrogenolysis of Glycerol over Carbon-Supported Ru and Pt Catalysts,” J. Catal., 249 (2007) 328-337.

W.C. Ketchie, Y.-L. Fang, M.S. Wong, M. Murayama and R.J. Davis, “ Influence of Gold Particle Size on the Aqueous-phase Oxidation of Carbon Monoxide and Glycerol,” J. Catal. 250 (2007) 94-101.