News

• [Jul. 2024] Prof. Nigra has been selected as an Emerging Investigator by Journal of Materials Chemistry A.
• [Jul. 2024] Luis Caballero, Dr. Joseph Brindle, Sayed Abu Sufyan, Nathan Ramey and Prof. Swomitra Mohanty (UU ChemE/MSE) have published a paper on 3D-printed titania nanotube support materials for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis catalysis in Journal of Materials Chemistry A. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4TA01203H
• [May 2024] Kristof Kaye and Ainslee Fogleman join the group as undergraduate researchers.
• [Mar. 2024] Alex Treviño joins the group as a graduate student researcher working on methanol steam reforming catalysts.
• [Jul. 2023] Prof. Nigra is promoted to Associate Professor with tenure!
• [Jan. 2023] Rashmi Charde’s paper on “Surfactant and ligand-free synthesis of platinum nanoparticles in aqueous solution for catalytic applications” has been accepted for publication in Catalysts. See the open access paper here: https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13020246
• [Dec. 2022] Sayed Abu Sufyan’s paper on “Electronic tuning of gold nanoparticle active sites for reduction catalysis” has been accepted for publication in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c18786
• [Oct. 2022]  Prof. Nigra and Prof. Kevin Whitty are beginning a new project on sorption-enhanced gasification of waste biomass for hydrogen production!  See the news article here: https://www.coe.utah.edu/2022/10/12/hydrogen-from-waste-biomass/
• [Oct. 2022] Luis Caballero, Dr. Nicholas Thornburg (NREL), and Prof. Nigra have published a perspective article in Chemical Science on catalytic ammonia reforming. See the open-access paper here: https://doi.org/10.1039/D2SC04672E
• [Sept. 2022] Sayed Abu Sufyan’s paper on “Synthesis of Highly Accessible and Reactive Sites in Gold Nanoparticles Using Bound Bis(diphenylphosphine) Ligands” has been accepted for publication in Chem. Eur. J. https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/chem.202202877
• [Aug. 2022]  Prof. Nigra is teaching Modern Chemical Reaction Engineering (CH EN 6553) for the Fall 2022 semester.
• [Jun. 2022] The group’s paper on hybrid gold nanoparticle-glucose oxidase catalysts for the sequential oxidation of glucose to saccharic acid is now available in Green Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1GC03453G
• [May 2022]  Joe Brindle’s paper on AuPd nanoparticles for methane oxidation has been published online in Chemical Engineering Journal: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.136979
• [May 2022]  Joe Brindle and Sayed Abu Sufyan’s paper on AuCu nanoparticles for benzyl alcohol oxidation has been published online in Catalysis Science and Technology: https://doi.org/10.1039/D2CY00137C
• [Apr. 2022]  Prof. Nigra has been elected as the president of the Rocky Mountain Catalysis Society!
• [Dec. 2021]  Joe Brindle has successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation.  Congratulations, Dr. Brindle!
• [Sep. 2021]  Prof. Nigra and collaborators at University College London and SABIC have published a new paper in Chemical Communications on new gold propylene epoxidation catalysts and their syntheses. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CC04165G
• [Sep. 2021]  Joe Brindle’s CO oxidation paper with bimetallic nanoparticles is available online! https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c04236
• [Aug. 2021]  Prof. Nigra is teaching Catalysis Science and Engineering (CH EN 5555/6555) this semester.
• [June 2021]  Prof. Nigra and collaborators at University College London and SABIC have published a new paper in Angew. Chemie. Int. Ed. on new stable and selective gold catalysts for propylene epoxidation! https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202104952
• [May 2021]  Prof. Nigra is pleased to be the speaker for the May 2021 Rocky Mountain local section of AIChE meeting!  His talk is entitled “Are two components better than one?  Investigation of multi-component materials for catalysis and environmental remediation applications.”
• [March 2021]  Prof. Nigra and collaborators at the U have published a new paper in Langmuir on gold nanoparticle aggregates for Fenton catalysis! https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03254
• [Jan. 2021]  Prof. Nigra is teaching undergraduate Chemical Reaction Engineering this semester.
• [Nov. 2020]  Prof. Nigra and PhD candidate Joe Brindle present their research at the 2020 AIChE virtual meeting!
  • Tandem Metal Nanoparticle-Oxidase Catalysis for Selective Oxidation Reactions: https://plan.core-apps.com/aiche2020/event/283ce3bcb18028bc8c82272abb51b971
  • Alloying and Ligand Effects in Supported Gold Nanoparticle Catalysis for CO Oxidation: https://plan.core-apps.com/aiche2020/event/283ce3bcb18028bc8c82272abb8108f5
  • Prof. Nigra and Univ. College London Collaborators:  Supported Gold Clusters with Modulated Environment As Highly Stable Catalysts for Propylene Epoxidation: https://plan.core-apps.com/aiche2020/event/7d1b67152194cb166004d468df5755ce 
• [Oct. 2020]  We are pleased to welcome PhD candidate Luis Caballero to the Nanointerface Engineering team!
• [Aug. 2020]  Prof. Nigra is the 2020 University of Utah College of Engineering Outstanding Teacher Award recipient! https://www.coe.utah.edu/2020/08/24/2020-coe-teaching-and-staff-awards/
• [Aug. 2020]  The Nanointerface Engineering Group is pleased to begin work on Fischer-Tropsch synthesis funded by DOE-NETL!  We are grateful for their support.
• [Jan. 2020]  Prof. Nigra is teaching undergraduate Chemical Reaction Engineering this semester.
• [Nov. 2019]  Prof. Nigra will be presenting work from the group at AIChE in Orlando, FL!
  • Cooperative Catalysis for Selective Oxidation with Hybrid Gold Nanoparticle Enzyme Materials: https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/572372
  • Gold Bimetallic Nanoparticles for Applications in Selective Oxidation Catalysis: https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/572578
  • Prof. Nigra and Univ. College London Collaborators:  Atomically Precise Gold Clusters with Modulated Ligand and Support Environment for Oxidation Catalysis https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/563743  (Presented by N. Kapil)
• [Nov. 2019]  Prof. Nigra will be chairing the following sessions at AIChE in Orlando, FL!
  • Young Faculty Forum
  • Novel Active Phases in Catalyst Design II:  Noble Metals
• [Oct. 2019]  Prof. Nigra presents at graduate student seminar at BYU!
• [Aug. 2019]  Prof. Nigra will be teaching Catalysis Science and Technology for the first time this semester.
• [June 2019]  Prof. Nigra and Ph.D. Candidate Joe Brindle will be presenting our work at NAM 26 in Chicago!
  • Cooperative Oxidation Catalysis with Hybrid Gold Nanoparticle-Oxidase Materials: https://nam.confex.com/nam/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/19852
  • Gold-Copper Bimetallic Clusters for Applications in Selective Oxidation: https://nam.confex.com/nam/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/19218
• [June 2019]  Ph.D. Candidate Joe Brindle received the Kokes Travel Award for NAM 26 in Chicago.  Congratulations, Joe!
• [Jan. 2019]  Prof. Nigra is teaching undergraduate Chemical Reaction Engineering this semester.
• [Oct. 2018]  Prof. Nigra is presenting work from the Nanointerface Engineering group at the AIChE  Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA!
  • Nanostructured Au/Organoclay Materials for Methylmercury Adsorption: https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2018/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/536266
  • Improvements in Teaching Core Undergraduate Courses after Chemical Engineering Summer School 2017: https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2018/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/530859
  • Facile Novel Synthesis and Characterization of Gold-Copper Bimetallic Nanoclusters for Applications in Oxidation Catalysis: https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2018/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/536401
  • Prof. Nigra and Univ. College London Collaborators: Supported Gold Clusters with Modulated Environment for Catalysis https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2018/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/533239
• [Oct. 2018]  Prof. Nigra is chairing the Novel Nanostructured Catalytic Materials II session at AIChE in Pittsburgh, PA!
• [Aug. 2018]  Prof. Nigra is teaching undergraduate Fluid Mechanics this semester.
• [Jan. 2018]  Prof. Nigra is teaching undergraduate Chemical Reaction Engineering this semester for the first time!
• [Jan. 2018]  Prof. Nigra and UCL collaborators publish an article entitled:  “Optimization of mesoporous titanosilicate catalysts for cyclohexene epoxidation via statistically guided synthesis.” https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2057-2
• [Oct. 2017]  Prof. Nigra will present at AIChE in Minneapolis!
  • “Nanoengineering the Environment Around Catalytic Active Sites” https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2017/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/491594
• [Aug. 2017]  Prof. Nigra is teaching undergraduate Fluid Mechanics this semester!
• [June 2017]  Prof. Nigra will present at NAM 25 in Denver, CO.
  • Tailoring Interfaces for Enhanced Catalytic Activity in Metallic and Enzymatic Catalysts Using Inspiration from Nature https://nam.confex.com/nam/2017/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/15986
• [Nov. 2016]  Ph.D. student Joe Brindle joins the team!  Welcome, Joe!
• [Aug. 2016]  Prof. Nigra is teaching undergraduate Fluid Mechanics this semester!
• [Aug. 2016]  The Nanointerface Engineering Lab journey begins!