About

Thomas Baron is a Professor elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1977. His contributions span engineering theory and practice in the areas of organic chemical reactions, combustion, and separations processes. His work has significantly advanced the understanding and application of these fundamental chemical engineering principles, impacting both academic research and industrial practices.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Materials science
• Chemical engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Composite material
• Photochemistry

Selected publications

• Ultrasmall amorphous zirconia nanoparticles catalyse polyolefin hydrogenolysis

  Nature Catalysis · 2023 · 160 citations

  • Materials science
  • Chemical engineering
  • Chemistry

  Abstract Carbon–carbon bond cleavage reactions, adapted to deconstruct aliphatic hydrocarbon polymers and recover the intrinsic energy and carbon value in plastic waste, have typically been catalysed by metal nanoparticles or air-sensitive organometallics. Metal oxides that serve as supports for these catalysts are typically considered to be inert. Here we show that Earth-abundant, non-reducible zirconia catalyses the hydrogenolysis of polyolefins with activity rivalling that of precious metal nanoparticles. To harness this unusual reactivity, our catalytic architecture localizes ultrasmall amorphous zirconia nanoparticles between two fused platelets of mesoporous silica. Macromolecules translocate from bulk through radial mesopores to the highly active zirconia particles, where the chains undergo selective hydrogenolytic cleavage into a narrow, C 18 -centred distribution. Calculations indicated that C–H bond heterolysis across a Zr–O bond of a Zr(O) 2 adatom model for unsaturated surface sites gives a zirconium hydrocarbyl, which cleaves a C–C bond via β-alkyl elimination.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Size-Controlled Nanoparticles Embedded in a Mesoporous Architecture Leading to Efficient and Selective Hydrogenolysis of Polyolefins

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2022 · 159 citations

  • Chemistry
  • Chemical engineering
  • Organic chemistry

  -centered distribution, whereas the active Pt sites influence the carbon-carbon bond cleavage rate. This conclusion provides a framework for catalyst design by separating the C-C bond cleavage activity at catalytic sites from selectivity for chain lengths of the products influenced by the structure of the catalytic architecture. The increased activity, selectivity, efficiency, and lifetime obtained using this architecture highlight the benefits of localized and confined environments for isolated catalytic particles under condensed-phase reaction conditions.

  DOI

• Polyethylene upcycling to long-chain alkylaromatics by tandem hydrogenolysis/aromatization

  Science · 2020 · 814 citations

  • Materials science
  • Chemistry
  • Organic chemistry

  , dispersity Ð = 1.1). Coupling exothermic hydrogenolysis with endothermic aromatization renders the overall transformation thermodynamically accessible despite the moderate reaction temperature of 280°C. This approach demonstrates how waste polyolefins can be a viable feedstock for the generation of molecular hydrocarbon products.

  DOI

• Catalytic upcycling of high-density polyethylene via a processive mechanism

  Nature Catalysis · 2020 · 493 citations

  • Materials science
  • Chemical engineering
  • Chemistry
  DOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: Nucleation from solution: a new frontier for molecular simulation

  NSF · $446k · 2010–2015

• Reaction kinetics and solvation: from computational methods to practical theories

  NSF · $374k · 2015–2019

• Reaction kinetics and solvation: from computational methods to practical theories

  NSF · $57k · 2019–2019

• Atomically dispersed amorphous catalysts: ab initio computational tools for a new frontier

  NSF · $302k · 2016–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Ziqiu Chen

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  40 shared

• Emmanuel Ejiogu

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  38 shared

• Patrick Lott

  Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

  36 shared

• Tonči Rezić

  University of Zagreb

  36 shared

• C. Oliver Kappe

  Nawi Graz

  36 shared

• Eduardo Rial-Rodríguez

  Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering (Austria)

  36 shared

• Qingrong Cheng

  Wuhan Institute of Technology

  36 shared

• Peter Sagmeister

  36 shared

Labs

• The Peters GroupPI

Awards & honors

• Named Professorship: William H. and Janet G. Lycan Professor

Similar researchers at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• Jiawei Hanh-146
• Maria T. Grosse Perdekamph-141
• Gan Zhangh-134
• Jeffrey S. Mooreh-130
• Shuming Nieh-128