The following summarizes our core capabilities that encompass a full range of techniques for materials discovery and technology demonstration.

Environmentally Controlled Synthesis Facility for Molecular Grafting and Functionalization of Nano-sized Materials and Micro-Structured Catalysts. The requested facility consists of a sample treatment station, which contains a muffle furnace, pumps, gas delivery system, electronic process controllers, and material preparation tools (balance, drying oven, etc.). These capabilities will enable a full range of synthesis methods for nanostructuured materials and the fabrication of microchemical reactors.

Multifunctional Kinetics, Isotopic Tracer, and Transient Analysis Package. This package is a highly versatile system ideal for deciphering complex reaction networks because of its fast sampling, low void volume, and wide operating pressure and temperature ranges. The package enables researchers to capture chemical reaction dynamics in either batch, continuous, or pulse modes and to titrate the number of active sites precisely.

In-situ Infrared Spectroscopic Suite. The in-situ infrared spectroscopic suite is used to probe surface species and their reactivity on working catalysts at industrially relevant conditions. Specifically, diffuse reflectance infrared measurements can be carried out on materials mounted in a catalytic reactor flow cell that mimics the hydrodynamics of plug flow reactors and operates over wide temperature and pressure ranges. The reaction chamber can be interfaced with a versatile gas dosing system, which enables the treatment of samples in ultra-high vacuum as well as exposing them to gas-phase reagents for kinetic studies.

“Chemical-Plant-on-a-Chip” Microchemical Reactor Assessment Suite. The microchemical reactor demonstration unit is used for the evaluation of microstructured catalysts at short contact times and for demonstration of the technology. The system is equipped with process controllers, a furnace, liquid injection system, vaporizer, miscellaneous fittings and tubings, back pressure controllers, and appropriate safety devices.

Analytical Capabilities. Our analytical capabilities include gas chromatography equipped with flame ionization and thermal conductivity detectors, gas chromatography mass selective detectors, and residual gas analyzer.

In addition to the core facilities above, we have access to the following facilities:

• A $23 million, multi-disciplinary material characterization facility: The Ontario Centre for the Characterization of Advanced Materials (OCCAM)

• X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (ToFSIMS) at Surface Interface Ontario (SI Ontario)

• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance at Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility

• Microscopy (high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy) at Centre for Nanostructure Imaging

• X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRD) at the Service Crystallography Laboratory
• Analytical Techniques (gas chromatography, high pressure liquid chromatography, ion chromatography, atomic absorption spectroscopy, ICP AEOS, microwave digestion, UltraViolet visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and elemental analysis) at Analytical Lab for Environmental Science Research and Training

• Micellar/Emulsion Materials Preparation
• Computational Resources at SciNet Consortium
• X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy at National Scientific User Facilities of Canadian Light Source, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, and Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory

• Transient Kinetic Analysis at Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory