Laibao Zhang

University of Louisiana at Lafayette | ULL · Department of Chemical Engineering

In this study, a reactive flame-retardant diol (BEOPMS) was synthesized by the esterification reaction of 9,10-dihydro-10-[2,3-di(hydroxycarbonyl)propyl]-10- phospha-phenanthrene-10-oxide with diethylene glycol. The flame-retardant effect of it combined with polyaryl polymethylene isocyanate (PMDI) were tested for rigid polyisocyanurate-polyurethan...

The spatial confinement at metal-zeolite interfaces offers a powerful knob to steer the selectivity of chemical reactions on metal catalysts. However, encapsulating metal catalysts into small-pore zeolites remains a challenging task. Here, we demonstrate an inverse design of metal-zeolite interfaces, "metal-on-zeolite," constructed by area-selectiv...

Polysaccharide biopolymers are biomacromolecules derived from renewable resources with versatile functions including thickening, crosslinking, adsorption, etc. Possessing high efficiency and low cost, they have brought wide applications in all phases of petroleum recovery, from well drilling to wastewater treatment. The biopolymers are generally ut...

Devices driven by above-equilibrium “hot” electrons are appealing for photocatalytic technologies, such as in situ H2O2 synthesis, but currently suffer from low (< 1%) overall quantum efficiencies. Gold nanostructures excited by visible light generate hot electrons that can inject into a neighboring semiconductor to drive electrochemical reactions....

Colloidal metal nanoparticles (NPs) have long been regarded as ideal precursors for the synthesis of well-defined supported metal catalysts. However, the integration of colloidal metal NPs and catalyst supports remains challenging. We report a general protocol, antisolvent-induced adsorption, to deposit colloidal metal NPs onto a broad range of cat...

Carbon capture can be realized effectively through isocitrate dehydrogenase reaction and the reaction rate was strongly affected by the environmental parameters such as pH and temperature. Enzyme immobilization was conducted to improve the enzyme stability during the capture process. By simply adsorbing enzyme on the surface of mesoporous silica fo...

Oil produced by the pyrolysis of biomass and co-pyrolysis of biomass with waste synthetic polymers has significant potential as a substitute for fossil fuels. However, the relatively poor properties found in pyrolysis oil—such as high oxygen content, low caloric value, and physicochemical instability—hampers its practical utilization as a commercia...

More alloying on silica Controlling the stoichiometry and achieving a high degree of alloying of metals at ultrasmall scales for catalysis can be difficult. Double complex salts, formed by a cation like Pd(NH 3 ) 4 ²⁺ and an anion like IrCl 6 ²⁻ , should be excellent precursors but are poorly soluble and difficult to adsorb directly on metal oxide...

Electricity generation from coal, nuclear reaction, and shale gas has brought environmental, safety, and health concerns. The electricity industry is constantly seeking sustainable, safe, and healthy way of electricity generation. The use of triboelectric device is promising for producing electricity from water energy. In this study, we report on t...

CeO₂ is a promising catalytic oxidation material for flue gas mercury removal. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and periodic slab models are employed to investigate mercury adsorption and oxidation by oxygen over the CeO₂ (111) surface. DFT calculations indicate that Hg⁰ is physically adsorbed on the CeO₂ (111) surface and the Hg atom i...

The addition of low-cost alcohols is a promising method to pretreat and stabilize pyrolysis oil by converting carboxylic acids and reactive carbonyl compounds into esters, ethers and acetals. In this study a series of alcohols—methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol or 1-octanol—was added to crude pyrolysis oil and these mixtures were stored at 2...

Accelerated aging was examined over a broad temperature range (40–290 °C) to determine the stability and different aging mechanisms for pyrolysis oil produced using fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) of solid particulate biomass material. Oil properties, including water content, high-molecular-mass (HMM) lignin content, viscosity, molecular weight, and...