Darrin J. Bellert, Ph.D.

Education

Postdoctoral Associate - University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

Ph.D. - University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

B.S. - Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio

Experimental Physical Chemistry

Photocatalysis involves the conversion of light into kinetic energy to drive chemical reactions to products. This is particularly relevant when the activating photon is in the visible spectral range as this implies the use of sun light to conduct chemical transformations. 

We are interested in fundamentally understanding this process and to this end, have developed a technique afforded by custom instrumentation to directly measure the reaction kinetics of photon activated, ion/molecule reactions.  We have named our novel technique SPIDRR, which is an acronym for the single photon initiated dissociative rearrangement reaction technique.  Transition metal cations serve as the photocatalytic active site in a chemical reaction with an organic molecule.  Low energy pathways are established as covalent bonds are broken and groups rearranged to form new molecules.  We invite you to visit the group’s research site where our technique is described in greater detail.