Joseph S. Francisco

About

Joseph S. Francisco is the President’s Distinguished Professor and Professor of Chemistry as well as Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. His primary focus area is Chemical Physics and Physical Chemistry. The information provided indicates his distinguished status within the department and his interdisciplinary role bridging chemistry with earth and environmental sciences. However, the page text does not provide further details about his specific research interests, background, or key contributions.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Organic chemistry
• Physical chemistry
• Chemistry
• Materials science
• Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Chemical physics
• Computational chemistry
• Biochemical engineering

Selected publications

• Molecular reactions at aqueous interfaces

  Nature Reviews Chemistry · 2020 · 385 citations

  DOI

• Single Iridium Atom Doped Ni₂P Catalyst for Optimal Oxygen Evolution

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2021 · 275 citations

  P catalyst offers novel prospects for simplifying decoration strategies and further enhancing OER performance.

  DOI

• Unravelling the Effects of Anions on the Vicinal H-Bonding Network near an Electrode and Activity of Single-Atom Electrocatalysts

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-10-08 · 14 citations

  articleCorresponding

  While extensive research has been devoted to studying the electrochemical performance of single-atom catalysts (SACs), the impact of electrolyte anions on their electrochemical activity remains largely unexplored. We performed multiscale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to examine how anions affect the vicinal hydrogen-bonding network and associated water dissociation dynamics at the SAC electrode/electrolyte interface. Constant-potential MD simulations demonstrate the presence of two distinc…

  PublisherDOI

• Probing catalyst-free hydroxyl radical generation at microbubble interfaces

  Nature Communications · 2025-10-03 · 13 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Gas–liquid interfaces at the micro- and nanoscale are emerging hotspots for unique chemical reactivity, yet the reactivity of individual microbubbles remains largely unexplored. Here, we visualize the catalyst-free generation of reactive oxygen species, particularly hydroxyl radicals, at the gas‒liquid interface of microbubbles. In-situ chemiluminescence imaging, together with spectroscopic analyses, and multiscale computational simulations shows that the enrichment of hydroxide ions at the micr…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Simultaneous Reduction and Oxidation of NO ₂ on Water Microdroplets Provides Previously Unknown Pathways to the Formation of HONO and HNO ₃

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-10-09 · 11 citations

  articleCorresponding

  HONO and HNO3 are important atmospheric species, yet their formation pathways in the atmosphere remain uncertain. In this study, we report the simultaneous formation of HONO and HNO3 at the air–water interface of water microdroplets in the presence of trace amounts of NO2. Water microdroplets were generated either in ambient air or in a glovebox where the gas content could be precisely controlled. The products generated by the microdroplets and surrounding gas were directly analyzed with mass sp…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R25GM055146

  NIH · $3.4M · 2006

• Exploration of Low-Dimensional Gas Clathrate Hydrates

  NSF · $550k · 2017–2019

• Radical Chemistry on Cloud and Aerosol Surfaces

  NSF · $540k · 2012–2015

Frequent coauthors

• Xiao Cheng Zeng

  City University of Hong Kong

  131 shared

• Shiyu Du

  Taiyuan University of Technology

  108 shared

• Tarek Trabelsi

  University of Pennsylvania

  107 shared

• Manuel F. Ruiz‐López

  Université de Lorraine

  79 shared

• Kirk A. Peterson

  77 shared

• Xiaoqing Zeng

  Wenzhou Medical University

  76 shared

• Marilia T. C. Martins‐Costa

  Laboratoire de Chimie Théorique

  74 shared

• M. Hochlaf

  Université Gustave Eiffel

  68 shared

Similar researchers at University of Pennsylvania

• Thomas Malloukh-143
• Tianquan “Tim” Lianh-91
• Karen I. Goldbergh-62