Massimiliano Delferro

Massimiliano “Max” Delferro is a chemist and group leader of the Catalysis Science Program in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division at Argonne National Laboratory.

Biography

Max Delferro is a chemist and group leader of the Catalysis Science Program in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division at Argonne National Laboratory and a Senior Scientists in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago. He is also the Argonne initiative leader for “Science for a Circular Economy”.

His work focuses on the chemical recycling of plastics waste and the development of earth-abundant catalysts for hydrogen production and valorization of shale gas. He is the Deputy Director of the “Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics” (iCOUP) and a co-principal investigator of the “Catalyst Design for Decarbonization Center” (CD4DC), both Energy Frontier Research Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Max earned his doctorate in organometallic chemistry from the University of Parma, Italy in 2008. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and has served as the president and program chair of the Catalysis Club of Chicago since 2016.

He published more than 150 publications and hold more than 30 patents. He is a member of the editorial board of ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces and member of several prestigious organizations, including the American Chemical Society and the Catalysis Society. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Education and Professional Experience

Executive Education, Strategic Laboratory Leadership Program, Booth School, University of Chicago, 2019
Research Associate Professor, Northwestern University, 2010-2016
Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University, Evanston IL, 2010
Ph.D., organometallic chemistry, University of Parma, 2008
M.S., chemistry, University of Parma, 2005
BS, chemistry, University of Parma, 2003

Awards, Honors, and Memberships

AAAS Fellow 2023
RSC ChemComm Pioneering Investigator 2023
R&D100 Award Finalist 2022, Plastic Upcycling
Argonne National Laboratory, Technology Commercialization and Partnerships (TCP) Rising Star 2022
Argonne National Laboratory Board of Governors Award 2021
Argonne National Laboratory, Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Excellence Award 2020
Argonne National Laboratory, Impact Award for Innovation 2020
DOE Polymer Upcycling Roundtable 2019, observer
DOE Basic Research Needs in Catalysis 2017, observer
RSC ChemComm Emerging Investigator 2017
Omar Farha Award for Research Leadership (Northwestern University, 2014)
Member of the American Chemical Society
President and Program Chair, The Catalysis Club of Chicago
Scholars of Global School for Advanced Studies, National Science Foundation, Session on “Catalysis and Materials for Hydrocarbon Conversions”, Doha, Qatar, January 6-8, 2013

Select Publications

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.; 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. A US Perspective on Closing the Carbon Cycle to Defossilize Difficult-to-Electrify Segments of Our Economy. Nat. Rev. Chem. 2024, 8 (5), 376-400. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-024-00587-1

Plastic Upcycling

Sam Hunt, S. B.; Delferro, M. Dehydrogenated Polyethylene from Discarded Plastics as a Synthon for Functional Polyolefins. ACS Appl. Poly. Mater. 2024, 6 (15), 8727-8732. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.4c01699
Lamb, J. V.; Lee, Y.-H.; Sun, J.; Byron, C.; Uppuluri, R.; Kennedy, R. M.; Meng, C.; Behera, R. K.; Wang, Y.-Y.; Qi, L.; Sadow, A. D.; Huang, W.; Ferrandon, M. S.; Scott, S. L.; Poeppelmeier, K. R.; Abu-Omar, M. M.; Delferro, M. Supported Platinum Nanoparticles Catalyzed Carbon–Carbon Bond Cleavage of Polyolefins: Role of the Oxide Support Acidity. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2024, 16 (9), 11361–11376. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.3c15350
Peczak, I. L.; Kennedy, R. M.; Hackler, R. A.; Lee, B.; Meirow, M.; Luijten, E.; Poeppelmeier, K. R.; Delferro, M. Treasuring trash: Pt/SrTiO₃ catalysts process plastic waste into high-value materials. Matter 2023, 6 (10), P3296-3321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2023.06.038
Arroyave, A.; Cui, S.; Lopez, J. C.; Kocen, A. L.; LaPointe, A. M.; Delferro, M.; Coates, G. W. Catalytic Chemical Recycling of Post-Consumer Polyethylene. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 23280-23285. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c11949
Hackler, R. A.; Lamb, J. V.; Peczak, I. L.; Kennedy, R. M.; Kanbur, U.; LaPointe, A. M.; Poeppelmeier, K. R.; Sadow, A. D.; Delferro, M. Effect of Macro-and Microstructures on Catalytic Hydrogenolysis of Polyolefins. Macromolecules 2022, 55, 6801-6810. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00805
Cappello, V.; Sun, P.; Zang, G.; Kumar, S.; Hackler, R.; Delgado, H. E.; Elgowainy, A.; Delferro, M.; Krause, T. Conversion of plastic waste into high-value lubricants: techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment. Green Chem. 2022, 24, 6306-6318. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2GC01840C
Hackler, R. A.; Vyavhare, K.; Kennedy, R. M.; Celik, G.; Kanbur, U.; Griffin, P. J.; Sadow, A. D.; Zang, G.; Elgowainy, A.; Sun, P.; Poeppelmeier, K. R.; Erdemir, A.; Delferro, M. Synthetic Lubricants Derived from Plastic Waste and their Tribological Performance. ChemSusChem 2021, 14, 4181-4189. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202100912
Peczak, I. L.; Kennedy, R. M.; Hackler, R. A.; Wang, R.; Shin, Y.; Delferro, M.; Poeppelmeier, K. R. Scalable synthesis of Pt/SrTiO₃ hydrogenolysis catalysts in pursuit of manufacturing-relevant waste plastic solutions. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021, 13, 58691-58700. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c18687
Celik, G.; Kennedy, R. M.; Hackler, R. A.; Ferrandon, M.; Tennakoon, A.; Patnaik, S.; LaPointe, A. M.; Ammal, S. C.; Heyden, A.; Perras, F. A.; Pruski, M.; Scott, S. L.; Poeppelmeier, K. R.; Sadow, A. D.; Delferro, M., Upcycling Single-Use Polyethylene into High-Quality Liquid Products. ACS Cent. Sci. 2019, 5, 1795–1803. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.9b00722

Surface Organometallic Catalysis

Kanbur, U.; Hall, J. N.; Kim, Y. L.; Niklas, J.; Poluektov, O. G.; Liu, C.; Kropf, A. J.; Delferro, M.; Kaphan, D. M. Supported Organochromium Ethylene Oligomerization Enabled by Surface Lithiation. ACS Catal. 2024, 14, 8640-8651. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.4c01672
Hall, J. N.; Chapovetsky, A.; Ferrandon, M. S.; Kim, Y. L.; Kanbur, U.; McCullough, K. E.; Liu, C.; Kropf, A. J.; Delferro, M.; Kaphan, D. M. Intercalative Redox Tuning for Cu/Li_xMn₂O₄-Catalyzed Oxidative Alkyne Coupling. ACS Catal. 2024, 14 (14), 11051-11064. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.4c02491
DeMuth, J. C.; Kim, Y. L.; Hall, J. N.; Syed, Z. H.; Deng, K.; Perras, F. A.; Ferrandon, M. S.; Kropf, A. J.; Liu, C.; Kaphan, D. M. Silicon Nitride Surface Enabled Propane Dehydrogenation Catalyzed by Supported Organozirconium. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146 (21), 14404–14409. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c0277
Staples, O.; Ferrandon, M. S.; Laurent, G. P.; Kanbur, U.; Kropf, A. J.; Gau, M. R.; Carroll, P. J.; McCullough, K.; Sorsche, D.; Perras, F. A. Silica Supported Organometallic Ir(I) Complexes Enable Efficient Catalytic Methane Borylation. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 22023, 145 (14), 7992-8000. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c13612
Perras, F. A.; Arroyave, A.; Southern, S. A.; Lamb, J. V.; Li, Y.; LaPointe, A.; Delferro, M. Double-Resonance 17 NMR Experiments Reveal Unique Configurational Information for Surface Organometallic Complexes. Chem. Commun. 2023, 59 (31), 4604-4607. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3CC00899A
Kanbur, U.; Witzke, R. J.; Xu, J.; Ferrandon, M. S.; Goetjen, T. A.; Kropf, A. J.; Perras, F. A.; Liu, C.; Tilley, T. D.; Kaphan, D. M. Supported Electrophilic Organoruthenium Catalyst for the Hydrosilylation of Olefins. ACS Catal. 2023, 13 (20), 13383-13394. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.3c03399
Hall, J. N.; Kropf, A. J.; Kanbur, U.; Dogan, F.; Byron, C.; Wen, J.; Delferro, M.; Kaphan, D. M. Structural and Reactive Evolution of Oxidatively Grafted Pd Catalysts on Mno 2 for the Low-Temperature Oxidation of CO. Chem. Commun. 2023, 59 (45), 6861-6864. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3CC01094E
Chapovetsky, A.; Kennedy, R. M.; Witzke, R.; Wegener, E. C.; Dogan, F.; Patel, P.; Ferrandon, M.; Niklas, J.; Poluektov, O. G.; Rui, N. Lithium-Ion Battery Materials as Tunable, “Redox Non-Innocent” Catalyst Supports. ACS Catal. 2022, 12, 7233-7242. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.2c00935
Ferrandon, M. S.; Byron, C.; Çelik, G.; Zhang, Y.; Ni, C.; Sloppy, J.; McCormick, R. A.; Booksh, K.; Teplyakov, A. V.; Delferro, M. Grafted Nickel-Promoter Catalysts for Dry Reforming of Methane Identified through High-Throughput Experimentation. Appl. Catal., A 2021, 118379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcata.2021.118379
Witzke, R. J.; Chapovetsky, A.; Conley, M. P.; Kaphan, D. M.; Delferro, M. Nontraditional Catalyst Supports in Surface Organometallic Chemistry. ACS Catal. 2020, 10, 11822-11840. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.0c03350
Syed, Z. H.; Kaphan, D. M.; Perras, F. A.; Pruski, M.; Ferrandon, M. S.; Wegener, E. C.; Celik, G.; Wen, J.; Liu, C.; Dogan, F.; Goldberg, K. I.; Delferro, M., Electrophilic Organoiridium(III) Pincer Complexes on Sulfated Zirconia for Hydrocarbon Activation and Functionalization. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 6325-6337. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b00896
Klet, R. C.; Kaphan, D. M.; Liu, C.; Yang, C.; Kropf, A. J.; Perras, F. A.; Pruski, M.; Hock, A. S.; Delferro, M., Evidence for Redox Mechanisms in Organometallic Chemisorption and Reactivity on Sulfated Metal Oxides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 6308-6316. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b00995
Kaphan, D. M.; Klet, R. C.; Perras, F. A.; Pruski, M.; Yang, C.; Kropf, A. J.; Delferro, M., Surface Organometallic Chemistry of Supported Iridium(III) as a Probe for Organotransition Metal-Support Interactions in C-H Activation. ACS Catal. 2018, 8, 5363-5373. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.8b00855
Camacho-Bunquin, J.; Ferrandon, M.; Sohn, H.; Yang, D.; Liu, C.; Ignacio-de Leon, P. A.; Perras, F. A.; Pruski, M.; Stair, P. C.; Delferro, M., Chemoselective Hydrogenation with Supported Organoplatinum(IV) Catalyst on Zn(II)-Modified Silica. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 3940-3951. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b11981

Metal Organic-Framework (MOF) Catalysis

Xu, Y.; Jin, Y.; García Sánchez, J. S.; Pérez-Lemus, G. R.; Zubieta Rico, P. F.; Delferro, M.; de Pablo, J. J. A Molecular View of Methane Activation on Ni(111) through Enhanced Sampling and Machine Learning. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2024, 15 (39), 9852-9862. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c02237
Lee, S.; Xie, H.; Chen, Z.; Mian, M. R.; Gómez-Torres, A.; Syed, Z. H.; Reischauer, S.; Chapman, K. W.; Delferro, M.; Farha, O. K. Metal–Organic Frameworks as a Tunable Platform to Deconvolute Stereoelectronic Effects on the Catalytic Activity of Thioanisole Oxidation. J. Am. Chem. Sci. 2024, 146 (6), 3955–3962.https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c11809
McCullough, K. E.; King, D. S.; Chheda, S. P.; Ferrandon, M. S.; Goetjen, T. A.; Syed, Z. H.; Graham, T. R.; Washton, N. M.; Farha, O. K.; Gagliardi, L.; Delferro, M. High-Throughput Experimentation, Theoretical Modeling, and Human Intuition: Lessons Learned in Metal-Organic-Framework-Supported Catalyst Design. ACS Cent. Sci. 2023, 9, 266-276. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.2c01422
Syed, Z. H.; Mian, M. R.; Patel, R.; Xie, H.; Pengmei, Z.; Chen, Z.; Son, F. A.; Goetjen, T. A.; Chapovetsky, A.; Fahy, K. M.; Sha, F.; Wang, X.; Alayoglu, S.; Kaphan, D. M.; Chapman, K. W.; Neurock, M.; Gagliardi, L.; Delferro, M.; Farha, O. K. Sulfated Zirconium Metal-Organic Frameworks as Well-Defined Supports for Enhancing Organometallic Catalysis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 16883-16897.https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c05290
Goetjen, T. A.; Kropf, A. J.; Alayoglu, S.; Delferro, M.; Hupp, J. T.; Farha, O. K. Tuning the Product Distribution of Acetylene Dimerization through Bimetallic Metal-Organic Framework-Supported Nanoporous Systems. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2022, 5, 14961-14969. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.2c03201
Hackler, R. A.; Pandharkar, R.; Ferrandon, M. S.; Kim, I. S.; Vermeulen, N. A.; Gallington, L. C.; Chapman, K. W.; Farha, O. K.; Cramer, C. J.; Sauer, J.; Gagliardi, L.; Martinson, A. B. F.; Delferro, M. Isomerization and Selective Hydrogenation of Propyne: Screening of Metal-Organic Frameworks Modified by Atomic Layer Deposition. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 20380-20389. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c08641
Zhang, X.; Huang, Z.; Ferrandon, M.; Yang, D.; Robison, L.; Li, P.; Wang, T. C.; Delferro, M.; Farha, O. K., Catalytic chemoselective functionalization of methane in a metal-organic framework. Nat. Catal. 2018, 1, 356-362. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-018-0069-6

Others

Langeslay, R. R.; Kaphan, D. M.; Marshall, C. L.; Stair, P. C.; Sattelberger, A. P.; Delferro, M. Catalytic Applications of Vanadium: A Mechanistic Perspective. Chem. Rev. 2019, 119 (4), 2128-2191.https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00245
Dudnik, A. S.; Weidner, V. L.; Motta, A.; Delferro, M.; Marks, T. J. Atom-Efficient Regioselective 1,2-Dearomatization of Functionalized Pyridines by an Earth-Abundant Organolanthanide Catalyst. Nat. Chem. 2014, 6 (12), 1100-1107. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2087 
Delferro, M.; Marks, T. J. Multinuclear Olefin Polymerization Catalysts. Chem. Rev. 2011, 111 (3), 2450-2485. https://doi.org/10.1021/cr1003634