The honor is likely to mean at least $500,000 over the next five years to support the research of Scott Oliver. Oliver, who originally hails from Canada, is an assistant professor of chemistry in his fourth year at Binghamton. He received the award for his proposal to develop an entirely new class of microporous inorganic materials. These crystalline materials, filled with molecule-sized holes, enjoy a $2.9 billion annual global market. They are used in petroleum refining, water treatment, air purification, chemical processing, manufacturing, environmental control and gas processing. Oliver's materials, however, will boast an important, and heretofore unheard of twist.
Microporous materials are naturally occurring minerals or synthetic compounds capable of trapping substances of the opposite charge within their pores. Until now, all of these "host" compounds--the world over--have been anionic, or negative in charge, so that only positively charged substances could reside as "guests" in their pores. Oliver and his team, however, have synthesized the first of what should be a new class of cationic, or positively charged, extended metal oxides to be used in anion-based applications. "It opens up a whole range of potential applications," he said. "For us, we're looking at anion trapping because most heavy metals form anions."
That means his cationic compounds could be used to trap anionic pollutants, including such negatively charged pollutants as arsenates, phosphates, sulfates, and technetates, a by-product of the nuclear program sometimes referred to as "radioactive anions."
Also, because Oliver's cationic materials are inorganic, they are much more stabl
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Contact: Susan E. Barker
sbarker@binghamton.edu
607-777-2640
Binghamton University
13-Jun-2003