Raymond John Gorte is an American
chemical engineer, currently the Russel Pearce and Elizabeth Crimian Heuer Endowed Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) and Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) at the
University of Pennsylvania. Throughout his career at the University of Pennsylvania and the
University of Minnesota, he has advanced the study of
fuel cells and
catalysts including heterogeneous metals and
zeolite materials. He is a member of the U.S.
National Academy of Engineering.[1]
Gorte joined the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in
Philadelphia in 1981. He was promoted to associate professor in 1987, and professor in 1993. He is a member of the Penn Center for Energy Innovation, the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM), and the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation.[3]
Fuel cells
Gorte's research in solid oxide
fuel cells addresses the design of electrodes and applications in
hydrocarbon oxidation. In 2000 he published an article in Nature with John Vohs describing the oxidation of
methane and higher hydrocarbons with a composite
anode of copper and
ceria that achieves viable power densities while producing carbon dioxide and water.[4]
Gorte's research in catalyst design has led to research projects on numerous applications and chemistries. He has published papers on the water-gas-shift reaction catalyzed by supported metals such as ceria-supported Pt, Pd and Rh.[6] Other applications include:
Gorte has authored more than 400 journal articles on
catalysis,
surface chemistry, and fuels cells which includes:
With his Advisor
R. J. Gorte, L. D. Schmidt "Desorption Kinetics with Precursor Intermediates", Surface Science 76, 559, (1978).[10]
R. J. Gorte, L. D. Schmidt "Temperature Programmed Desorption with Reaction", Applications of Surface Science 3, 381, (1979).[11]
R. J. Gorte, L. D. Schmidt "Interactions between NO and CO on Pt(111)", Surface Science 111, 260, (1981).[12]
R. J. Gorte, L. D. Schmidt, J. L. Gland "Binding States and Decomposition of NO on Single Crystal Planes of Pt", Surface Science 109, 367, (1981).[13]
R. J. Gorte, B. A. Sexton, L. D. Schmidt "The Electron Energy Loss Spectrum of Isocyanic Acid on the Pt(111) Surface", Journal of Catalysis 67, 387, (1981).[14]
At Univ. of Pennsylvania
D. J. Parrillo, A. T. Adamo, G. T. Kokotailo, R. J. Gorte "Amine adsorption in H-ZSM-5", Applied Catalysis, 67(1), 107-118, (1990).[15]
G. S. Zafiris, R. J. Gorte "Evidence for low-temperature oxygen migration from ceria to Rh", Journal of Catalysis, 139(2), 561-567, (1993).[16]
D. J. Parrillo, C. Lee, R. J. Gorte "Heats of adsorption for ammonia and pyridine in H-ZSM-5: evidence for identical Brønsted-acid sites", Applied Catalysis A: General, 110(1), 67-74, (1994).[17]
W. E. Farneth, R. J. Gorte "Methods for Characterizing Zeolite Acidity", Chemical Reviews, 95, 615-635, (1995).[18]
T. Bunluesin, R. J. Gorte, G. W. Graham "Studies of the water-gas-shift reaction on ceria-supported Pt, Pd, and Rh: implications for oxygen-storage properties", Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 15(1-2), 107-114, (1998).[6]
R. J. Gorte "What do we know about the acidity of solid acids?", Catalysis Letters, 62(1), 1-13, (1999).[19]
S. Park, J. M. Vohs, R. J. Gorte "Direct Oxidation of hydrocarbons in a solid oxide fuels cell", Nature, 404(6775), 265, (2000).[20]
Alan Atkinson, S. Barnett, Raymond J. Gorte, J. T. S. Irvine, Augustin J McEvoy, Mogens Mogensen, Subhash C Singhal, J. Vohs "Advanced anodes for high-temperature fuel cells", Nature Materials, 3(1), 17, (2004).[21]
Honors
Gorte has received awards for his contributions to research, education and service, many of which highlight his interest in fuel cells and catalysis and the problems associated with characterization and fundamental mechanisms and kinetics. In 2018, Gorte was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering. His election citation stated:
For fundamental contributions and their applications to heterogeneous catalysts and solid state electrochemical devices..
— Election Citation, National Academy of Engineering, 2018[22]
^Abdelrahman, Omar A.; Vinter, Katherine P.; Ren, Limin; Xu, Dandan; Gorte, Raymond J.; Tsapatsis, Michael; Dauenhauer, Paul J. (2017). "Simple Quantification of Zeolite Acid Site Density by Reactive Gas Chromatography". Catalysis Science & Technology. 7 (17): 3831–3841.
doi:
10.1039/C7CY01068K.
^Zafiris, G.S.; Gorte, R.J. (1993). "Evidence for a second CO oxidation mechanism on Rh/ceria". Journal of Catalysis. 143: 86–91.
doi:
10.1006/jcat.1993.1255.
^Gorte, R. (1981). "The Electron Energy Loss Spectrum of Isocyanic Acid on the Pt(111) Surface". Journal of Catalysis. 67 (2): 387–391.
doi:
10.1016/0021-9517(81)90298-0.