Date Approved

6-4-2020

Embargo Period

6-5-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

PhD Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Chemical Engineering

College

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering

Advisor

Noshadi, Iman

Committee Member 1

Savelski, Mariano

Committee Member 2

Hesketh, Robert

Keywords

Carbon dioxide capture, Catalyst, Electrochemical conversion, In-situ drug synthesis, Resin, Template-free

Subject(s)

Phenolic resins; Mesoporous materials--Synthesis; Catalyst supports

Disciplines

Chemical Engineering

Abstract

The abilities to tailor catalytic functional groups and chemical characteristics onto a robust polymer structure make mesoporous phenolic resins great candidates for catalytic support applications. The use of a template synthesis method for configuring a catalytic structure is neither commercially nor environmentally friendly. In this Ph.D. thesis, new one-pot template-free methods for synthesizing mesoporous metal-doped phenol-formaldehyderesin were developed. The methods facilitate scaling for industrial catalytic applications in pharmaceutical, environmental, and medical applications. Heterogeneous palladium centered catalytic mesoporous structures were synthesized by a single-stage template-free method. BET adsorption measurements, SEM, EDX, XPS, and TEM were used to study the surface area, uniformity of Pd distribution, and an interconnected porous network structure. Subsequently, the activity of the catalyst was evaluated in bed batch and continuous reactors for Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions. The catalyst was confirmed for biocompatibility and used for extracellular synthesis of anti-cancer PP121 drug in the mono-cell layer and 3D printed model structures with encapsulated cells. The metabolic activity and flow cytometry results confirmed the efficiency of this catalyst for in-situ drug synthesis. Additionally, this catalyst was doped using cobalt and nickel and evaluated for CO2 capture and electrochemical conversion to fuels and chemicals.

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