Bingjun Xu recognized as an influential researcher

The University of Delaware’s Bingjun Xu has been named to the 2018 Class of Influential Researchers by the journal Industrial & Engineering Chemical Research. He is one of 29 scientists and engineers from eight different countries to make the list.

Xu, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, studies catalysis — the processes that accelerate chemical reactions. If you drive a gas-fueled automobile, then you benefit from catalysis every time you’re behind the wheel. A catalytic converter inside the car uses a catalyst, often platinum, to convert dangerous carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide.

In the laboratory, Xu zooms in to analyze how a variety of catalysts work, especially at the surface, where the chemical reactions take place. “My group has been doing a lot of work in understanding the surface-mediated reactions,” said Xu. “We are developing tools to better understand how those reactions take place and understand those processes at a molecular level.”

As part of Xu’s recognition in the 2018 Class of Influential Researchers, an article co-authored by Xu and three colleagues at the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation — Matthew J. Gilkey, Casper Brady, and Dionisios Vlachos — is featured in a special issue of Industrial & Engineering Chemical Research.