(left to right) Jennifer Boyd and Dr. Howard Thomas pictured in a lab at Furman University.

Our research group is investigating the structure of surfaces and the attractive forces between gas molecules and solid surfaces. Specifically, we are currently investigating the size and shape of nanopores in the surface of porous carbons and the intermolecular forces that exist between these solids and gases adsorbed on their surfaces. We use a gas chromatograph to measure retention times of our target gases as they flow over our carbon in a stream of helium. Analysis of the variation of retention time with temperature allows us to characterize the attractive force between the gas and the carbon surface. The theoretical analysis is done in collaboration with a colleague at the University of Tennessee.

Undergraduate students collaborating on this project have presented their results at the last four Southeastern meetings of the American Chemical Society. Ten Erskine students have been co-authors on published papers.

These studies help us understand some neat chemistry, such as: protection from chemical warfare agents, hydrogen storage for modern fuel cells, size and shape of nanopores, catalytic decomposition of molecules, and theoretical models of gas-solid adsorption.

If you like numbers, instruments and accurate measurements, this is for you – come join our team.

Recent Publications

Adsorption energies for a nanoporous carbon from gas-solid chromatography
and molecular mechanics. Thomas R. Rybolt, Howard E. Thomas, Katherine A.
Ziegler, Jennifer L. Boyd, Mark E. Ridgeway, J. Colloid Interface Sci.,
296, 41 (2006)

Predicting Second Gas-Solid Virial Coefficients using Calculated Molecular
Properties on Different Carbon Surfaces. T. R. Rybolt, H. E. Thomas, N.
Carrington and E. Williamson, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 272, 35 (2004)

Molar Refractivity and Connectivity Index Correlations for Henry’s Law
Virial Coefficients of Odorous Sulfur Compounds on Carbon and for
Gas-Chromatographic Retention Indices, T. R. Rybolt, H. E. Thomas, D.N.
Hooper, J. B. Stensby. M. L. Baker, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 234, 168
(2001)

Correlations of Henry’s Law Gas-Solid Virial Coefficients and
Chromatographic Retention Times for Hydrocarbons and Halocarbons Adsorbed
on Carbopack C Carbon, T. R. Rybolt, H. E. Thomas, D. L. Logan, M. W.
Milburn, A. Waters, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 220, 148 (1999)

Henry’s Law Behavior in Gas-Solid Chromatography: A Virial Approach, T.
R. Rybolt and H. E. Thomas, Interfacial Phenomena in Chromatography, E.
Pefferkorn, Ed., 80, 1-40 (1999)