All projects in the Multiscale Science & Engineering Center listed by title in alphabetical order. Followed by the faculty member and short description of the research. Please select the title to read more about the research.
Nature Inspired Chemical Engineering
The PI: Marc-Olivier Coppens
Inspired by the beauty and utility of hierarchical, multi-scale structures in nature, Coppens (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering) focuses on researching, designing and synthesizing the optimal architectures that interpolate between molecular/nano-scales and macroscopic scales. Trees, lungs, kidneys, the vascular network, and cell membranes are all examples of multi-scale biological systems with a scalable architecture that is essential to their working.
Multi-scale simulations and theory (statistical mechanics, network and continuum theory; hierarchical optimization techniques) are used to design novel porous catalysts, fluid distributors for multi-phase reactors and membranes. Fractal distributors are constructed, and nanoporous catalysts synthesized that realize these optimal designs. Also applications in membranes (mimicking cell membranes), sensing, controlled release/uptake and fuel cells are envisioned.