Research Interests:

Sheng Dai is a Senior Research Staff and Group Leader for the Nanomaterials Chemistry (NC) Group in the Chemical Sciences Division at ORNL. His current research interests are in the synthesis and characterization of nanoporous materials, metal nanoparticles, and ionic liquids for separation and catalysis. The NC research group consists of multi-disciplinary permanent staff, postdoctoral associates, and guests on short-term assignments (e.g. university faculty, graduate and undergraduate students). Basic and applied research is conducted under the sponsorship of the Department of Energy, other federal agencies, and private corporations.

Selected current research themes include:

• Rational synthesis of mesoporous oxides and carbons as supports for nanoparticle catalysts and fuel-cell electrocatalysts.
• Atomic layer deposition (ALD) and surface sol-gel (SSG) methods for surface modification of catalyst supports.
• Development of controlled methodologies to assemble metallic nanoparticle catalysts (e.g. gold catalysts).
• Study of ionic liquids as novel media to conduct catalytic reactions.