Shohreh Hemmati, Ph.D.
Education
Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Chemical Engineering
Purdue University, 2016-2018
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering
University of New Hampshire, 2016
M.S., Energy Engineering
Sharif University of Technology, 2009
B.S., Chemical Engineering
Arak University, 2006
Major Areas of Research
Green and Sustainable Metal Nanostructure Synthesis
Millifluidic Continuous Reactors for Nanomaterial Synthesis
VLPs Expression and their Application as Biotemplate for Metal Nanostructure Synthesis
In-situ UV-vis and FTIR Spectroscopy
Transparent Conductive Film (TCF) Manufacturing
Recent Research Activities
Green and Sustainable Metal Nanostructure Synthesis
Nowadays, green noble nanoparticle synthesis process utilizing natural precursors is of great interest because of its advantages as a cost effective, facile, less harmful, and sustainable technology. However, these new techniques should be optimized not only in terms of scale-up capability, but also in aspects of product quality and performance.
Our main focus is utilizing different millifluidic methods for synthesis of noble metal nanostructures specifically one-dimensional ones such as nanowires and nanorods. Our goal is reducing their final cost by an order of magnitude through the application of less expensive water based reducing agents at lower reaction temperature in a green and continuous manner.
Millifluidic Continuous Reactors for Nanomaterial Synthesis
The novel flow reactor design for nanomaterial synthesis has potential to minimize the energy requirement and required space, decrease waste, provide precise control over nanomaterial size and morphology, advance information, and provide more accurate models in development and manufacturing with potential and merit to transfigure the industrial-scale nanomaterial production.
We utilize different designs and architectures of novel continuous millifluidic reactors for different nanomaterials synthesis.
VLPs Expression and their Application as Biotemplate for Metal Nanostructure Synthesis
Bottom-up nanomaterial syntheses with the ability to control material characteristics from the molecular level to the bulk level have numerous advantages over traditional techniques, and templating is one of the most essential methods to control nanomaterial synthesis.
Our motivation in this area is design and test engineered and natural Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) coat protein (CP) and Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) CP from Escherichia coli (E-coli) in collaboration with synthetic biological laboratories. Then we will be able to assemble virus-like particles (VLPs) as tunable biotemplates for metal nanostructure synthesis that are safer and less resource-intensive than conventional synthesis methods.
In-situ UV-vis and FTIR Spectroscopy
The current advances in in-situ quantitative understanding using different instrumentation in the course of the reaction including reduction, nucleation, and growth will allow us to precisely control the size and morphology of metal nanostructures.
Our interest in this area is to utilize in-situ UV-vis (UV5 Mettler Toledo) and in-situ FTIR (ReactIR Mettler Toledo) characterization techniques to investigate the reaction dynamic and mechanism of metal nanostructures growth to further control their morphology, size, size distribution, and crystal structures.
Transparent Conductive Film (TCF) Manufacturing
The interconnection of nanodevices with the Internet has led to development of the next generation of Internet of Things (IoT) called "Internet of Nano Things" (IoNT). To be successful, the IoNT market requires capital investment for nanotechnology development like transparent conductive films (TCFs) manufacturing, in which low cost large-scale/large-area manufacturing can be reliably implemented.
This research in collaboration with Dr. James Smay supported by NSF aims to discover the reaction conditions and mechanisms in a continuous millifluidic reactor to produce high-quality, low-cost silver nanowire (AgNW)-based conductive inks that can be continuously printed onto flexible substrates to create low-cost transparent conducting films (TCFs) for the Internet of Nano Things (IoNT). This project studies a millifluidic system for the manufacture of nearly monodispersed AgNWs with controllable length and aspect ratio and sufficient concentration for TCFs. The millifluidic reactor is connected to a 3D printing machine for continuous manufacture and printing of AgNW-based TCFs with an order of magnitude reduction in cost while maintaining high print quality.
Recent Publications
- S. Hemmati, M. T. Harris, D. P. Barkey, "Polyol Silver Nanowire Synthesis and the Outlook for a Green Process", Hindawi Journal of Nanomaterial, 9341983, 2020.
- S. Hemmati, E. Retzlaff-Roberts, C. Scott, M. T. Harris,"Artificial Sweeteners and Sugar Ingredients as Reducing Agent for Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles", Hindawi Journal of Nanomaterial, 9641860, 2019.
- S. Hemmati, D. P. Barkey, L. Eggleston, B. Zukas, N. Gupta, M. T. Harris, "Silver Nanowire Synthesis in a Continuous Millifluidic Reactor", ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 6 (4), 144-149, 2017.
- S. Hemmati, D. P. Barkey, "Parametric Study, Sensitivity Analysis, and Optimization of Polyol Synthesis of Silver Nanowires", ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 6 (4), 132-137, 2017.
- S. Hemmati, D. P. Barkey, N. Gupta, "Rheological Behavior of Silver-Nanowire Conductive Inks during Screen Printing", J Nanopart. Res. 18:249, 249-259, 2016.
- S. Hemmati, D. P. Barkey, N. Gupta, R. Banfield, "Synthesis and Characterization of Silver Nanowire Suspensions for Printable Conductive Media", ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 4 (4), 3075-3079, 2015.
- S. Hemmati, M. Vosoughi, GR. Pazuki, Y. Saboohi, N. Hashemi, "Supercritical Gasification of Biomass: Thermodynamic Analysis with Gibbs Free Energy Minimization", Energy Sources, Part A, 34, 163-176, 2012.
- N. Hashemi, S. Hemmati. M. Vossoughi. Y. Sabohi. GR. Pazuki, "Application of a New Gibbs Energy Equation to Model a Distillation Tower for Production of Pure Ethanol", Chem. Eng. Technol., 34 (10), 1715-1722, 2011.