Research
Research focus areas
The Berkson lab focuses on understanding and controlling molecular-level processes at interfaces for applications in new sustainable technologies. Current research topics include:
- Heterogeneous catalysis
- Understanding and controlling the properties of defects and active sites in zeolite-based catalysts to unlock new applications in sustainable chemical production
- Nanostructured semiconductors
- Determining how defects, dopants, and interfaces influence electronic structure and macroscopic properties for photo/electrocatalytic and optoelectronic applications
- Organic-inorganic hybrid materials
- Establishing methods for quantifying non-covalent interactions and dynamics at organic-inorganic interfaces
- Crystallization
- Developing tools to track non-classical crystallization and solid-solid rearrangement processes that govern the assembly of many nanostructured solids
- Solid-state NMR spectroscopy
- Developing methods for improving the sensitivity and resolution of solid-state NMR spectroscopy
Publication list
Select publications:
- Solid-State 183W NMR Spectroscopy as a High-Resolution Probe of Polyoxotungstate Structures and Dynamics. Z. J. Berkson,* M. Bernhardt, C. Copéret. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2024, 15 (7), 1950-1955. *Corresponding author. Link.
- Active Site Descriptors from 95Mo NMR Signatures of Silica-supported Mo-based Olefin Metathesis Catalysts. Z. J. Berkson, R. Zhu, C. Ehinger, L. Lätsch, S. P. Schmid, D. Nater, S. Pollitt, O. V. Safonova, S. Björgvinsdóttir, A. B. Barnes, Y. Román-Leshkov, G. A. Price, G. Sunley, C. Copéret. J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 2023, 145 (23), 12651-12662. Link.
- Universal promotion of heterogeneous olefin metathesis catalysts by controlling dynamic active site renewal. T. Z. H. Gani, Z. J. Berkson, R. Zhu, J.-H. Kang, J. R. Di Iorio, K.-W. Chan, D. F. Consoli, S. K. Shaikh, C. Copéret, Y. Román-Leshkov. Nature, 2023, 617, 524-528. Link.
- Solid-state NMR spectra of protons and quadrupolar nuclei at 28.2 T: resolving signatures of surface sites with fast magic angle spinning. Z. J. Berkson. S. Björgvinsdóttir, A. Yakimov, D. Gioffrè, M. Korzyński, A. B. Barnes, C. Copéret. JACS Au, 2022, 2 (11), 2460-2465. Link.
- Classifying and Understanding the Reactivities of Mo Based Alkyne Metathesis Catalysts from 95Mo NMR Chemical Shift Descriptors. Z. J. Berkson, L. Lätsch, J. Hillenbrand, A. Fürstner; C. Copéret, J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144 (33), 15020–15025. Link.
- Olefin-surface interactions: a key activity parameter in silica-supported olefin metathesis catalysts. Z. J. Berkson, M. Bernhardt, S. Schlapansky, M. J. Benedikter, M. Buchmeiser, G. Price, G. Sunley, C. Copéret. JACS Au, 2022, 2 (3), 777–786. Link.
- Preferential Siting of Aluminum Heteroatoms in the Zeolite Catalyst Al‐SSZ‐70. Z. J. Berkson, M.-F. Hsieh, S. Smeets, D. Gajan, A. Lund, A. Lesage, D. Xie, S. I. Zones, L. B. McCusker, C. Baerlocher, B. F. Chmelka. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2019,58 (19) 6255-6259. Inside cover. Link.
- Syntheses of Colloidal F:In2O3 Cubes: Fluorine-Induced Faceting and Infrared Plasmonic Response. S.-H. Cho,# S. Gosh,# Z. J. Berkson,# J. Hachtel, J. Shi, X. Zhao, L. Reimnitz, C. Dahlman, Y. Ho, A. Yang, Y. Liu, J.-C. Idrobo, B. F. Chmelka, D. Milliron. Chem. Mater., 2019, 31 (7) 2661-2676. #Equal contribution. Link.