Robert Rioux | Institute of Energy and the Environment

22A Chemical and Biomedical Eng Bldg (CBEB)
University Park, PA 16802

Elsevier Pure Profile

IEE Research Themes

Integrated Energy Systems

IEE Faculty Member

Professor, Chemical Engineering

Research Summary

Research interests include heterogeneous catalysis, catalyst design and synthesis, time-resolved FTIR spectroscopy of condensed systems, x-ray absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS, XANES), reaction mechanisms in nanoscale systems and photocatalysis.

In the News

Striking gold with molecular mystery solution for potential clean energy | Penn State University

Aug 31, 2023 | psu.edu

Striking gold with molecular mystery solution for potential clean energy

Michael Janik (left), Penn State professor of chemical engineering, and Robert Rioux, the Penn State Friedrich G. Helfferich Professor of Chemical Engineering, published a Nature Chemistry paper wherein which they tested efficient, customizable catalytic reactions that cut down on unneeded competitive reactions and isolated a successful, predictable one. Credit: Kelby Hochreither/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Apr 25, 2022 | psu.edu

Precise control of atomic arrangement may mean less waste in producing plastic

Materials Research Institute announces 2022 seed grant recipients | Penn State University

Apr 13, 2022 | psu.edu

Materials Research Institute announces 2022 seed grant recipients

Penn State awarded $3.4 million contract to target plastic waste | Penn State University

Jan 17, 2022 | psu.edu

Penn State awarded $3.4 million contract to target plastic waste

Researchers seek to revolutionize catalyst design with machine learning | Penn State University

Sep 11, 2019 | psu.edu

Researchers seek to revolutionize catalyst design with machine learning

Partnership celebrates global synergy, accomplishments at joint energy workshop | Penn State University

Dec 5, 2017 | psu.edu

Partnership celebrates global synergy, accomplishments at joint energy workshop

Research Keywords

These keywords and phrases come from the publications and other research output of this person. See other researchers related to these topics by clicking on any keyword.

Surface (Surface Science)

Oxidation Reaction

Silicon Dioxide

Pt Nanoparticles

Platinum Nanoparticles (PtNPs)

Titanium Dioxide

Ethylene Hydrogenation

Polyvinylpyrrolidone

Catalyst Activity

Isothermal Titration Calorimetry

Recent Publications

Complementary Reducing Agents are Responsible for Temporally Distinct Nucleation and Growth Phases During the Polyol Synthesis of Ag Nanocubes

Canning, G. A., Ogozaly, S., Pekarcik, M., Lieb, C. A., Jharimune, S., Pfukwa, R., Klumperman, B. & Rioux, R. M., Feb 3 2025, In: Angewandte Chemie - International Edition. 64, 6, e202418611.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Dynamic Variation of Ni and Pt Single Atom Oxidation States on CeO₂Nanocubes during CO Oxidation

Eudy, K., Deo, S., Weber, Z. M., Janik, M. J. & Rioux, R. M., 2025, In: ACS Catalysis. 15, p. 16674-16689 16 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Determination of Site Occupancy in the M-Pd-Zn (M = Cu, Ag, and Au) γ-Brass Phase by CALculation of PHAse Diagrams Modeling and Rietveld Refinement

Gong, R., Dasgupta, A., Shang, S. L., He, H., Kirkham, M., Zimmerer, E. K., Canning, G. A., Janik, M. J., Rioux, R. M. & Liu, Z. K., Feb 3 2025, In: Inorganic chemistry. 64, 4, p. 1690-1701 12 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Heterobinuclear Molecular Precursors Direct the Formation of Supported Subnanometer Cu–M Clusters with Tunable Catalytic Behavior

Kostan-Carmiel, M., Shema, H., Yu, H. C., Canning, G. A., Shpasser, D., Soni, A., Remennik, S., Mankad, N., Rioux, R. M., Gazit, O. & Gross, E., Oct 8 2025, In: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. 17, 40, p. 56064-56076 13 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

A Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) Bayesian inference approach to analyze apparent activation barriers and reaction orders from microreactor data

Nguyen, A., Canning, G. A., Rioux, R. M. & Janik, M. J., Nov 2025, In: Journal of Catalysis. 451, 116389.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Structural chemistry of intermetallic compounds for active site design in heterogeneous catalysis

Roy, N., MacIntosh, K., Eid, M., Canning, G. & Rioux, R. M., Apr 21 2025, In: Chemical Science. 16, 20, p. 8611-8636 26 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Structural Evolution and Stability of Rh/TiO₂ Catalysts under CO₂ Hydrogenation Conditions: Influence of the Initial Rh Structure

Schroeder, E. K., Hong, S., Chen, X., Hoffman, A. S., Chen, Z., Khan, A., Barber, G., Bac, S., Rioux, R. M., Yang, J., Tassone, C. J., Bare, S. R. & Christopher, P., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: ACS Catalysis. p. 12133-12147 15 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Post-Synthetic Transformation of High Entropy Alloy Nanoparticles into High-Entropy Intermetallics for Selective Acetylene Semi-Hydrogenation Catalysis

Soliman, S. S., Eid, M., Mitarotonda, Z., MacIntosh, K., Dey, G. R., Rioux, R. M. & Schaak, R. E., Jul 9 2025, In: Journal of the American Chemical Society. 147, 27, p. 23405-23410 6 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Identifying Elementary Reaction Kinetics of Heterogeneous Catalytic Mechanisms Using Pseudorandom Binary Sequence-Induced Transients

Wang, R., Weber, Z., Janik, M. J., Rioux, R. M. & Armaou, A., Feb 7 2025, In: ACS Catalysis. 15, 3, p. 2677-2689 13 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

A US perspective on closing the carbon cycle to defossilize difficult-to-electrify segments of our economy

Shaw, W. J., Kidder, M. K., Bare, S. R., Delferro, M., Morris, J. R., Toma, F. M., Senanayake, S. D., Autrey, T., Biddinger, E. J., Boettcher, S., Bowden, M. E., Britt, P. F., Brown, R. C., Bullock, R. M., Chen, J. G., Daniel, C., Dorhout, P. K., Efroymson, R. A., Gaffney, K. J. & Gagliardi, L. & 44 others, Harper, A. S., Heldebrant, D. J., Luca, O. R., Lyubovsky, M., Male, J. L., Miller, D. J., Prozorov, T., Rallo, R., Rana, R., Rioux, R. M., Sadow, A. D., Schaidle, J. A., Schulte, L. A., Tarpeh, W. A., Vlachos, D. G., Vogt, B. D., Weber, R. S., Yang, J. Y., Arenholz, E., Helms, B. A., Huang, W., Jordahl, J. L., Karakaya, C., Kian, K., Kothandaraman, J., Lercher, J., Liu, P., Malhotra, D., Mueller, K. T., O’Brien, C. P., Palomino, R. M., Qi, L., Rodriguez, J. A., Rousseau, R., Russell, J. C., Sarazen, M. L., Sholl, D. S., Smith, E. A., Stevens, M. B., Surendranath, Y., Tassone, C. J., Tran, B., Tumas, W. & Walton, K. S., May 2024, In: Nature Reviews Chemistry. 8, 5, p. 376-400 25 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Direct Determination of High-Affinity Binding Constants by Continuous Injection Isothermal Titration Calorimetry

Chang, J. W., Mu, Y., Armaou, A. & Rioux, R. M., Dec 21 2023, In: Journal of Physical Chemistry B. 127, 50, p. 10833-10842 10 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Active-site isolation in intermetallics enables precise identification of elementary reaction kinetics during olefin hydrogenation

He, H., Canning, G. A., Nguyen, A., Dasgupta, A., Meyer, R. J., Rioux, R. M. & Janik, M. J., Jul 2023, In: Nature Catalysis. 6, 7, p. 596-605 10 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

The role of surface hydroxyls in the entropy-driven adsorption and spillover of H₂ on Au/TiO₂ catalysts

Mahdavi-Shakib, A., Whittaker, T. N., Yun, T. Y., Sravan Kumar, K. B., Rich, L. C., Wang, S., Rioux, R. M., Grabow, L. C. & Chandler, B. D., Aug 2023, In: Nature Catalysis. 6, 8, p. 710-719 10 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Synthesis and Characterization of Magnesium/Boron Solid Solutions for Energetic Applications

Agarwal, P. P. K., Jensen, D., Chen, C. H., Rioux, R. M. & Matsoukas, T., Jun 27 2022, In: ACS Applied Energy Materials. 5, 6, p. 6716-6723 8 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Atomic control of active-site ensembles in ordered alloys to enhance hydrogenation selectivity

Dasgupta, A., He, H., Gong, R., Shang, S. L., Zimmerer, E. K., Meyer, R. J., Liu, Z. K., Janik, M. J. & Rioux, R. M., May 2022, In: Nature Chemistry. 14, 5, p. 523-529 7 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review