Contact: boneill2@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 265-3784
Status: 3rd year graduate student
Hometown: Janesville, WI
Research Area:
My research has focused on the selectivity and stability of heterogeneous catalysts used for biorefining applications. This work has relied on a close interplay between computational chemistry and modeling, experimental kinetics studies, and ex situ, in situ, and operando catalyst characterization. I have studied the role of functional group on selectivity for formic acid and formate ester reforming and used helped to elucidate the active site of highly selective RhRe bimetallic catalysts. Most recently, I have studied the use of atomic layer deposition (ALD) as a route to novel catalyst architectures that can be used to stabilize supported metal catalysts against sintering and leaching, selectively expose high coordination facets of nanoparticles, decrease coking and resinification reactions, and create bifuctional catalysts..
Publications:
Singh, S. Li, S. O’Neill, B. J., Scaranto, J., Dumesic, J.A., Mavrikakis, M., “On the Nature of the Active Site for HCOOH Decomposition on supported Cu catalysts: A combined experimental and theoretical approach,” manuscript in preparation
O’Neill, B. J.; Singh, S.; Sabnis, K.; Ribeiro, F. H.; Mavrikakis, M.; Dumesic, J. A. Atomic Layer Deposition Overcoated Cu/γ-Al2O3Catalysts for Water Gas Shift. manuscript in preparation
Canlas, C. P.; Cheng, L.; O’Neill, B. J.;Dogan, F.; Libera, J. A.; Dumesic, J. A.; Curtiss, L. A.; Elam, J. W. Origin and Tunability of Acid Sites in Amorphous Silica-Alumina. manuscript in preparation
O’Neill, B. J.; Sener, C.; Jackson, D. H. K.; Kuech, T. J.; Dumesic, J. A. Control of Thickness and Chemical Properties of Atomic Layer Deposition Overcoats for Stabilizing Cu/γ-Al2O3 Catalysts. Manuscript Submitted
O'Neill, B. J.; Miller, J. T.; Dietrich, P. J.; Sollberger, F. G.; Ribeiro, F. H.; Dumesic, J. A.Operando X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Studies of Sintering for Supported Copper Catalysts during Liquid-Phase Reaction. Cover ArticleChemCatChem 2014, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201402356.
Schwartz, T. J.; O’Neill, B. J.; Shanks, B. H.; Dumesic, J. A., Bridging the Chemical and Biological Catalysis Gap: Challenges and Outlooks for Producing Sustainable Chemicals. ACS Catal. 2014, 2060-2069.
Alba-Rubio, A. C.; O’Neill, B. J.; Shi, F.; Akatay, C.; Canlas, C.; Li, T.; Winans, R.; Elam, J. W.; Stach, E. A.; Voyles, P. M.; Dumesic, J. A., Pore Structure and Bifunctional Catalyst Activity of Overlayers Applied by Atomic Layer Deposition on Copper Nanoparticles. ACS Catal. 2014, 1554-1557.
O'Neill, B. J., Jackson, D. H. K., Crisci, A., Farberow, C. A., Shi, F., Dietrich, P., Lu, J., Marhsall, C. L., Stair, P. C., Elam, J., Ribeiro, F., Voyles, P., Miller, J., Greeley, J., Mavrikakis, M., Scott, S., Kuech, T. F., and Dumesic, J. A. “Stabilization by Atomic Layer Deposition of Copper Catalysts for Liquid Phase Reactions” VIP and Cover article.Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 13808-13512.
Chia, M., O’Neill, B. J., Alamillo, R., Dietrich, P. J., Ribeiro, F. H., Miller, J. T., Dumesic, J. A. “Bimetallic RhRe/C catalysts for the production of biomass-derived chemicals” J. Catal.2013, 308, 226-236.
O’Neill, B.J., Gurbuz, E.I., Dumesic, J.A. “Reaction kinetic studies of the conversion of formic acid and butyl formate over carbon-supported palladium in the liquid phase” J. Catal. 2012, 290, 193-201.
Phillip, W.A., O’Neill, B., Rodwogin, M., Hillmyer, M., Cussler, E.L. “Self-Assembled Block Copolymer Thin Films as Water Filtration Membranes” ACSAppl. Mater. Inter. 2010, 2, 847-853.
Phillip, W.A., O’Neill, B., Amendt, M., Hillmyer, M., Cussler, E.L. “Diffusion and Flow AcrossNanoporousPolydicylopentadiene-Based Membranes” ACS Appl. Mater.Inter.2009, 1, 472-480
