THE MISSION

The Laursen Research Group focuses on understanding the fundamental controlling factors that govern the performance of heterogeneous catalytic materials. A combination of theoretical and experimental tools are used to obtain atomic, molecular, and macroscopic information concerning catalyst composition, structure, and performance. Specific focus is drawn to understanding composition-activity, structure-activity, and shape-activity relationships that are critical to advanced catalyst design. Our fundamental research is applied in-house to solve the immediate problems that concern society. Presently, we are focused upon developing non-noble metal solid catalysts, the efficient use of petroleum feedstock, transforming biomass into fuels and chemicals, and utilizing solar energy, H₂O, and CO₂ as a fuel. The Laursen Research Group operates from the atomic-level to bench-top reactor scale. Our research is uniquely fundamental as well as applied.

Summer Research in Knoxville, TN

NEWS

• Sep 2014: Congratulations to Samiksha Poudyal for winning 1st place in the Southeastern Catalysis Society Annual meeting poster competition
• Sep 2014: Dr. Laursen (organizer), Samiksha Poudyal, and Yang He attend the Southeastern Catalysis Society Annual meeting in Asheville, NC
• Sep 2014: Dr. Laursen (organizer) attends the International Conference on Environmental Catalysis in Asheville, NC.
• Aug 2014: Dr. Laursen presents "The Effect of Surface Chemical Reactivity in Artificial Photosynthesis" in honor of Dr. Linic's ACS Catalysis Lectureship award
• Aug 2014: Congratulations to Dr. Laursen's PhD advisor, Dr. Linic for winning the American Chemical Society Catalysis Lecture Award
• Aug 2014: In situ photocatalytic reactions with the Harrick Praying Mantis^TM High Temperature Reaction Chambers are now available
• Jul 2014: The Laursen Research Group was featured on WATE Channel 6 News as a premier lab participating in the UTK HITES program. HITES provides a week-long research experience for high school students aspiring to be engineers
• Jun 2014: We welcome two NSF REU students to the group for summer research: Matthew Jenkins (Comp Sci) and Michelle Lehmann (Chem & Bio Eng)
• Dec 2013: We welcome Samiksha Poudyal and Yang He as first year graduate students to the group.
• Dec 2013: Dr. Laursen has been granted a Science Alliance grant from the University of Tennessee
• Nov 2013: Dr. Laursen has been granted 300,000 cpu hours for state-of-the-art quantum chemical calculations on one of the world's fastest super computers, the Kraken!
• Feb 2013: 10 bar pressure, liquid phase, batch reactors are operational and being used to investigate the catalytic upgrading of model lignin molecules
• Feb 2013: Dr Laursen's group has recently procured a Extorr XT 300 residual gas analyzer to compliment their Multi-gas SRI gas chromatograph
• Jan 2013: Dr. Laursen's group has purchased and received their new Quantachrome Autosorb IQ for BET surface area and temperature programmed reaction analysis

PUBLICATIONS

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

1. Partially oxidized gold nanoparticles: A catalytic base-free system for the aerobic homocoupling of alkynes
   Boronat, Mercedes; Laursen, Siris; Leyva-Pérez, Antonio; Oliver-Meseguer, Judit; Combita, Diego; and Corma, Avelino; Journal of Catalysis 315 (2014) 6-14, DOI: 10.1016/j.jcat.2014.04.003
2. Making C–C Bonds with Gold: Identification of Selective Gold Sites for Homo- and Cross-Coupling Reactions between Iodobenzene and Alkynes
   Boronat, Mercedes; Combita, Diego; Concepcion, Patricia; Corma, Avelino; Garcia, Hermenegildo; Juarez, Raquel; Laursen, Siris; and de Dios Lopez-Castro, Juan; Journal of Physical Chemistry C 116 (2012) 24855–24867, DOI: 10.1021/jp307158
3. First-Principles Design of Highly Active and Selective Catalysts for Phosgene-Free Synthesis of Aromatic Polyurethanes
   Laursen, Siris; Combita, Diego; Hungria, Ana B.; Boronat, Mercedes; Corma, Avelino; Angewandte Chemie-International Edition 51 (2012) 4190-4193, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201108849
4. Strong Chemical Interactions Between Au and Off-Stoichiometric Defects on TiO2 as a Possible Source of Chemical Activity of Nanosized Au Supported on the Oxide
   Laursen, Siris; Linic, Suljo; Journal of Physical Chemistry C 113 (2009) 6689-6693, DOI: 10.1021/jp810603u
5. Geometric and electronic characteristics of active sites on TiO2-supported Au nano-catalysts: insights from first principles
   Laursen, Siris; Linic, Suljo; Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 11 (2009) 11006-11012, DOI: 10.1039/b912641d
6. Oxidation catalysis by oxide-supported Au nanostructures: The role of supports and the effect of external conditions
   Laursen, Siris; Linic, Suljo; Physical Review Letters 97 (2006) 026101, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.026101
7. Dynamic hybrid neural network model of an industrial fed-batch fermentation process to produce foreign protein
   Laursen, Siris; Webb, Daniel; Ramirez, W. Fred; Computers & Chemical Engineering 31 (2007) 163-170, DOI: 10.1016/j.compchemeng.2006.05.018

Conference Presentations

• American Chemical Society (ACS) Annual Meeting, San Francisco CA, 2014: The Role of Surface Chemical Reactivity in Artificial Photosynthesis, Siris Laursen
• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting, San Francisco CA, 2013: Tuning the Surface Chemical Reactivity of Oxides for Heterogeneously Catalyzed Organic Synthesis, Siris Laursen, Mercedes Boronat, Diego Combita, and Avelino Corma
• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City UT, 2010: The Catalytic Chemistry of Au: Fundamental insights from a combined experimental and theoretical investigation, Siris Laursen and Suljo Linic
• North American Catalysis Society (NACS) Annual Meeting, San Francisco CA, 2009: The Effect of the Gold–Oxide Interface on the Catalytic Chemistry of Au, Siris Laursen and Suljo Linic
• American Chemical Society (ACS) Annual Meeting, New Orleans LA, 2008: The Effect of Oxide Surface Point Defects on the Chemistry of Oxide Supported Gold, Siris Laursen and Suljo Linic
• Michigan Catalysis Society (MCS) Annual Meeting, Dearborn MI, 2007: The Effect of Oxide Specific Au– Oxide Interactions on the Chemistry of Gold, Siris Laursen and Suljo Linic, Awarded 2nd Place in Competition
• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting, San Francisco CA, 2007: The Effect of the Oxide’s Electronic Structure on Gold–Oxide Interfacial Chemistry, Siris Laursen and Suljo Linic
• Western States Catalysis Club Annual Meeting, Provo UT, 2004: A Theoretical Study of Ensemble Size Effects in Silver-Catalyzed Propylene Epoxidation, Siris Laursen and Will Medlin

Non-Peer Reviewed Publications

• Online interactive teaching module for introducing quantum chemical calculations to undergraduate students

THE PEOPLE

Faculty

Dr. Siris Laursen

Dr. Siris Laursen obtained his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Laursen served as a postdoctoral research fellow at Instituto de Technología Química in Valencia, Spain. Currently, at the University of Tennessee, he focuses on the development of catalytic materials, surface science, and chemical reaction thermodynamics and kinetics of molecules and materials. Contact Dr. Siris Laursen Curriculum Vitae

Graduate Students

Yang He

Yang earned a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alabama. Currently, he is at the University of Tennessee pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, where he researches the catalytic upgrading of biomass to fuels and chemicals. Project

Samiksha Poudyal

Originally from Kathmandu, Napel, Samiksha earned her bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah in 2012. She is a Ph.D. candiate at the University of Tennessee in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering department. She began working in the lab in August 2012, and her current research focuses on photoelectrochemical processes for CO₂ reduction. Project

Undergraduate Assistants & Alumni