About Dr. Charpentier Research Group

DR. CHARPENTIER’S main area of research is in developing new “green nanotechnologies” for environmentally-friendly and alternative energy applications. Our group enjoys working with industry on problems which lead to developing new areas in basic science and applying them to real world applications. Research is being carried out in several key areas to develop novel nanomaterials and nanomedicines synthesized using green enabling solvents such as supercritical carbon dioxide and ionic liquids for emerging applications. These novel materials formed using techniques in polymer synthesis, self-assembly and particle design have applications in many areas including solar devices, catalytic and biomedical applications.

Research Highlights

TiO₂ aerogels were produced in Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) solvent using hexamer building blocks withthe morphology and porosity of the products found to be functions of reactant ratios and reactor temperature and pressure. [Link]

Zr-TiO₂ nanotubes were synthesized viaa new surfactant-free sol-gel route in supercritical CO₂. The morphology of the Zr-TiO₂ nanotubes can be tailored by changing either the concentration of the starting materials or the acid-to-metal-alkoxide ratio. This synthesis procedure is simple and scaleable, using mild reaction conditions and a green solvent, and provides a high yield and high-quality nanotubes. [Link]

Effect of solvent on the crystal growth of one-dimensional ZrO₂-TiO₂ nanostructures was examined for several common sol−gel solvents, including scCO₂, hexane, xylenes, isopropanol, and ethanol. After synthesis, all materials were dried similarly in scCO₂ to remove the effect of synthesis from drying. Formation of nanotubular structure was found with scCO₂, whereas the other solvents gave primarily nanorod structures. [Link]

Polymer chains of PMMA were grown from nano titania (n-TiO₂) spherical surfaces by the Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization process (RAFT) using the green solvent, supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂). [Link]

A new approach to synthesize titania nanofibers with nanocrystallites via a sol−gel route in supercritical CO₂. The nanofibers were formed by the esterification and condensation of titanium alkoxides using acetic acid as the polymerization agent in supercritical CO₂ from 40 to 70 °C and 2500 to 8000 psia. [Link]