Heteroepitaxial Materials in the Energy Arena: Self-assembly, Control, and Emergent Properties

Dr. Dion Vlachos
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,
Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, and
Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation,
University of Delaware, Newark

ICI Distinguished Lecture Part 1

3:30 pm - October 23, 2014
ETLC 1-001

Host: Dr. Vinay Prasad

Abstract:

Heteroepitaxial materials are encountered in a broad range of applications ranging from magnetics to semiconductors to catalysts. Due to lattice mismatch and strain, these materials undergo spontaneous self-assembly to 2D and 3D structures allowing inexpensive bottom-up fabrication. However, until recently, control of these structures has not been possible and the properties have not been fully understood. In this talk, multiscale simulation will briefly be introduced as an enabling technology that fills in this scientific gap. It will then be shown how to use this simulation framework to predict and control patterns in 2D systems. Finally, understanding the emergent properties of heteroepitaxial catalysts and the in silico prediction of suitable bimetallic catalysts will be elucidated as an application domain.

Biography:

Dion Vlachos is the Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware and the Director of the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI), an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) funded by the Department of Energy (DOE).Dr. Vlachos obtained a five years diploma in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical Univ. of Athens, in Greece, in 1987. He obtained his MS and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1990 and 1992, respectively, and spent a postdoctoral year at the Army High Performance Computing Research Center, MN, after which he joined UMass as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to an associate professor at UMass in 1998. He joined the Univ. of Delaware in 2000. He was a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University in the spring of 2000, a visiting faculty at Thomas Jefferson Univ. and Hospital in spring of 2007 and the George Pierce Distinguished Prof. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the Univ. of Minnesota in the fall of 2007.

Dr. Vlachos is the recipient of the R. H. Wilhelm Award in Chemical Reaction Engineering from AIChE, an AAAS Fellow, an ONR Young Investigator Award and a NSF Career Award. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, the Combustion Institute, the Catalysis Society, and SIAM.

His main research thrust is multiscale modeling and simulation along with their application to catalysis, crystal growth, portable microchemical devices for power generation, production of renewable fuels and chemicals, catalyst informatics, detailed and reduced kinetic model development, and process intensification.

He is the corresponding author of more than 300 refereed publications and has given nearly 200 plenary lectures, keynote lectures, and other invited talks. He has served as an executive editor of the Chemical Engineering Science journal and has served or serves on the editorial advisory board of several journals (e.g., ACS Catal., Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research (I&ECR), Applied Catalysis A: General, The Combustion Institute, The Open Energy and Fuels Journal, the Journal of Nano Energy and Power Research, and J. Chem. Eng. & Proc. Tech.).