Dr. Chil-Hung Cheng
Areas of Academic Interest
Nanoporous materials
Crystal engineering
Heterogeneous catalysis
Spotlight
In Chil-Hung Cheng鈥檚 lab, something is always cooking. Cheng is developing recipes for creating porous materials with structures that can selectively capture different molecules. The technology could help lead to a greener world, particularly in the case of coal plants where porous membranes could be used to bind harmful greenhouse gases before they reach the atmosphere.
"Porous materials have phenomenal functionalities,鈥� says Cheng. 鈥淭he critical point is figuring out how to synthesize the unique structure, which is what I'm focusing on.鈥�
However, predicting membrane structure is a challenging process. 鈥淵ou put liquid inside a container, bake it, and sometimes it鈥檚 a needle shape and sometimes it鈥檚 a disk,鈥� says Cheng. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 understand how it forms yet. But in the next five years, I want to find out.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to reduce the harmful effects of greenhouse gases.鈥�
- Abdelrasoul, A.; Zhang, H.; Cheng, C.-H., Doan, H., Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 2017, 242, 294-348.
- Jegatheeswaran, S.; Cheng, C.-M.; Cheng, C.-H., Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 2015, 201, 24-34.
- Alhamami, M.; Doan, H.; Cheng, C.-H., Materials, 2014, 7, 3198-3250.
- Cheng, C.-H.; Jones, C.; Nair, S.; Chance, R. R.; McCool, B. A.; Deckman, H. W., US Patent, 8,846,558, 2014.