Pillared Two-Dimensional Catalyst Materials for Plastics Upcycling
Prof. Dongxia Liu
Email: liud@udel.edu
University of Delaware
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Join us IN PERSON ONLY at:
UIC’s Engineering Innovation Building
Room 124
929 W. Taylor St
Chicago, IL 60607
Abstract
Energy remains one of the defining global challenges. Our research group integrates expertise in materials science, catalysis, and separations to develop advanced catalyst and membrane technologies for efficient and selective chemical and fuel transformations. In this talk, I will present our recent work in designing hierarchical meso-/microporous pillared two-dimensional (2D) catalyst materials, focusing on pillared MXenes and zeolites, and their applications in plastics upcycling. Hierarchical zeolites combine the catalytic specificity of micropores with the enhanced mass transport of mesopores, enabling the efficient processing of bulky polymer molecules. Pillared mesoporous MXenes, used as metal catalyst supports, confine active metal species to promote reaction selectivity, while their open mesoporous structures enable efficient mass transport. These materials have demonstrated high activity in the hydrogenolysis of polyolefin plastics. Our work highlights promising new directions in the design and application of 2D pillared meso-/microporous catalysts for thermochemical plastic conversion, aiming to produce fuels and valuable chemicals from waste polymers.
Bio
Dongxia Liu earned her B.S. in Chemistry from Shandong University in China in 2000, followed by her M.S. degree from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2003. She completed her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Rochester in 2009. Afterward, she pursued a 2.5-year post-doctoral position at the University of Minnesota. In 2012, she joined the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Maryland (UMD) as an assistant professor and was promoted to an associate professor in 2018 and to a full professor in 2022. In 2023, she joined Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD) as a Robert K. Grasselli Professor. She serves as Director of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology (CCST) at UD.
Dongxia is leading the Materials Synthesis, Separation and Catalysis Lab at UD, targeting for controlling composition and constitution of nanostructured materials for catalyst, membrane and reactor technologies to address the challenging issues in renewable energy and chemicals production. She has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed journal articles and 12 issued/pending patents on these topics, and serves as the editor for Molecular Catalysis. Dongxia has won awards including the UMD’s Faculty-Student Research Award (FSRA) awards (2021 and 2013), Junior Faculty Outstanding Research Award in A. James Clark School of Engineering at UMD (2020), and the NSF CAREER award (2013).
Catalysis Club of Chicago 