Environmental Chemistry at Interfaces

Why Interfaces?

It turns out that interfaces are interesting. Many of the basic chemistry concepts we often learn break down when we get to interfaces, where two phases touch each other. In many cases, we still don’t know why. It also turns out that interfaces play critical roles in environmental systems. Interfaces exist when minerals come in contact with water, when water passes through membranes, and when electrodes drive redox reactions in water.

Our research group studies interfaces with a broader focus on improving the critical thinking and analytical abilities of students and scholars by promoting deep, critical thought. To achieve this, we maintain a small, select group to enable regular, in-depth meetings. Additionally, students are provided opportunities to showcase their work at both national and international conferences. Researchers from this group primarily go on to pursue academic careers.

Specific projects were are currently working on include:

Electrochemical water desalination and selective element recovery
Olivine carbonation for in-situ carbon dioxide sequestration
Relating mineral redox properties to their reactivities
The future role of ChatGPT in research

Dr. Gorski's CV is available here. A complete list of the group's publications is also avaiable on Google Scholar. If you are interested in joining our group or collaborating, please email Dr. Gorski.

Current Funding

Thermodynamics and Redox Reactivity of Birnessite. 8/23-7/25. National Science Foundation: Environmental Chemistry. $425,346. PI: Gorski, Co-PI: Peter Heaney.
Integrated electrode-membrane assemblies for energy efficient MCDI across the salinity spectrum. 7/22-6/25. Office of Naval Research. $570,000. PI: Gorski.
Enabling Hydrogen Gas Production from Seawater Using Electrolytes Contained by Reverse Osmosis Membranes. 9/20-8/23. National Science Foundation: Environmental Engineering. $300,000. PI: Bruce Logan, Co-PIs: Gorski, Michael Hickner.
CAREER: Battery-inspired electrodes for efficiently desalinating water or harvesting salinity gradient energy. 7/18-8/24. National Science Foundation: Environmental Engineering. $500,000. PI: Gorski.
Constraining Olivine Carbonation Rates in Igneous Mafic Formations. 7/23-12/23. Penn State Institute of Energy and the Environment. $30,000. PI: Matthew Fantle, Co-PI: Gorski.

Research Group

Christopher Gorski, Principal Investigator

Chris has been at Penn State since 2012. Before that, he was a post-doc at Eawag in Switzerland (2010 - 2012) and a PhD student at the University of Iowa (2005 -2009).

Vineeth Pothanamkandathil, PhD Candidate in Environmental Engineering

Vineeth joined the group in the Fall of 2018. He is working on intercalation materials used for desalination and selective ion separations.

Timothy Hudak Jr., PhD Student in Chemical Engineering

Tim is PhD student in Chemical Engineering, and he began his PhD in Fall 2022. He is currently studying electrochemical desalination technologies.

Mahmudul Hasan, PhD Student in Chemical Engineering

Mahmudul is PhD student in Chemical Engineering. He is currently studying the fabrication and use of patterned ion exchange membranes for improving the energy efficiency of electrochemical desalination technologies.

Anthony Poompa, PhD Student in Chemistry

Anthony is a PhD student in Chemistry, and he is co-advised with Matthew Fantle in Geosciences. Anthony began his PhD in Fall 2022. He is currently studying the carbonation of igneous rocks for in-situ carbon sequestration.

Paolo Benavides , Post-doc in Environmental Engineering

Paolo Benavides will be joined the group as a post-doc in January 2024 to study the redox properties of Mn oxides! He is co-advised by Peter Heaney in the Department of Geosciences.