Welcome to the Chandler Lab
![](https://sites.psu.edu/chandlerlab/files/2021/08/CO-ox-mechanism-300x204.png)
Water-assisted CO oxidation reaction mechanism over Au/TiO2 catalysts
Catalytic chemistries lie at the heart of multiple critical technologies for the 21st century. Major advances in catalysts and catalytic processes will be key to solving many of the world’s most pressing challenges, including:
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- Energy production and storage
- Providing clean water to a growing population
- Plastics pollution
- Maintaining and improving air quality
- Reducing the energy footprint of the chemical industry
Finding scalable solutions to these problems requires concerted efforts in the fundamental chemistry and engineering of solid materials. We contribute to these efforts by working at the nexus of catalytic chemistry, reaction engineering, materials synthesis & properties, spectroscopy, and solid-state reactivity.
Our lab is guided by a simple aphorism: it is really, really hard to engineer a solution to something if you don’t know how it works.
Accordingly, we work to understand how catalytic materials work on a molecular level. We are inspired by excitement of discovery, and the journey of unraveling Nature’s methods of controlling catalytic chemistries. We use this understanding to improve industrially important catalytic chemistries, design and synthesize new catalytic materials, and think creatively about to apply our discoveries to new systems that will have a positive impact on our world.
Postdoctoral Positions currently available. Please contact Prof. Chandler for details.
These pages are currently under construction, so please check back for updates.