Dept. of Chemistry Seminar – Dr. Tondreau

About the event

Speaker: Dr. Aaron Tondreau, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Host: Dr. Jim Boncella

Title: The Soft Side of Gallium: Mild Methods of Metal Oxidation

Abstract: Gallium(III) chloride (GaCl3) has proven effective for the oxidation of lanthanide (Ln) and actinide (An) metals, which offers a mild anhydrous metallurgical processing technology. We have explored the chemistry between GaCl3 and many of the f-block elements to explore the useability of this reactivity in applications such as element separations. Additional reactivity of (Ln/An)-gallate products has been pursued, and characterization of the products has been achieved. The results arising from reactions in various carrier matrices, as well as comparisons between products from lanthanide and actinide reactivity will be presented. The differences in physical properties determined by metal identity that affect the product outcome will be presented, along with characterization and potential future applications of this chemistry.

Bio: Aaron Tondreau graduated from Cornell University in 2011, earning his PhD performing base-metal catalysis under the mentorship of Paul Chirik. Following this, he served as a postdoctoral fellow under Dr. Hansjorg Grützmacher at the ETH in Zürich, Switzerland, in collaboration with the BASF and their Project Jonas program. Upon returning to the US, Dr. Tondreau joined the group of Jim Boncella at Los Alamos National Laboratory with both Seaborg and Director’s postdoctoral fellowships. He is currently serving as a technical staff scientist in Chemistry Division.