Eric Prouzet

Associate Professor

Eric Prouzet carries out research in material chemistry and nanotechnology. His research is focused on the synthesis of nanostructured materials such as porous materials and nano-objects. His main domain of research is using soft matter such as micelles, liquid crystals and biogels, as adaptive soft templates or molds. He has great expertise in particle and porosity size analysis, and created the Waterloo Structure Analytical Platform (WatSAP) that offers up-to-date equipment for these analyses. His research has applications in a range of areas including membrane processes, catalysis, photovoltaic or magnetic devices.

Eric is also highly committed to innovation, including teaching, scientific consulting for two startups, and co-founder of two companies, one in biotechnologies (industrial production of microalgae), and one in IT (document search engine).

Contact information
Office: QNC 4614
Phone: 519-888-4567, ext. 38172
Email: eprouzet@uwaterloo.ca
Website: Eric Prouzet

Expertise

Nanostructures
Porous materials
Catalysis
Separation

Research

Eric Prouzet has developed a specific method for the preparation of mesoporous silica with a good control over the pore size in the range 2 – 9 nm and a narrow pore size distribution. These objects are perfect nanobricks that allow him to build porous bodies where the porosity is created by the assembly of surfactants and the walls by condensation of silica oligomers. His current research in this domain aims to offer a sustainable easily scaled-up industrial process, where organic templates used for the synthesis can be recovered and reused.

Eric also develops ceramic membranes for both liquid and gas separation in place of energetic processes (distillation, cryogenic processes). Among the most promising fields are sea water desalination for production of fresh water, hydrogen production for fuel cells, and CO₂ recovery from fossil fuel power plants.

In another nano research area, Eric specializes in porous matrixes that can be used as molds for the generation of nanoparticles in a confined environment. He uses the dynamics of soft matter to define specific molds that allows him to shape materials synthesised within.

Teaching

Eric Prouzet teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Waterloo, and also at University of Bordeaux (France), and Beijing Jiaotong Technical University (China). Recent course offerings have included topics in mesoporous materials, nanostructured materials and integrative chemistry, X-ray absorption spectroscopy as a structural tool, Chemistry and the solid state, Materials & nanosciences in the modern world, Innovation and project management.

Highlighted Publications

Recent publications include

Eric Prouzet, Andrew Kacheff, Guillaume Aubert, Ahmed Bentaleb, Rénal Backov, Cyril Aymonier. (2018). Toward a sustainable preparation of tunable mesoporous silica. The Journal of Supercritical Fluids. 2019, 143, 139-145.
Cao, E.; Prouzet, E.; Heroguez, V. Harnessing the power of latex solutions based on titania particles - using si-ATRP towards larger surface modification for applications in gas separation membranes, Colloids and Surfaces A-Physicochemical and Engingeering Aspects, 2016, 510 SI 245-253.
Kinadjian, N.; Nallet, F.; Bentaleb, A.; Backov, R.; Prouzet, E. A single parameter determines mesophase transitions in Swollen Liquid Crystals, 2016, 43, 615-622.
Cao, E.; Pichavant, L.; Prouzet, E.; Heroguez, V. The formation and study of poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(norbornene) block-copolymers on the surface of titanium-dioxide particles: a novel approach towards application of si-ROMP to larger surface modification, Polymer Chemistry, 2016, 7, 2751-2758.
Kacheff, A.; Prouzet, E. Stability and dynamics of silicate/organic hybrid micelles, Compte Rendus Chimie, 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crci.2016.11.001
Zschiedrich, H.; Boissière, C.; Kooyman, P.; Prouzet, E. A pure aqueous route to mesoporous silica thin films via dip-coating of prefabricated hybrid micelles, Journal of Sol-Gel Technology, 2016 doi:10.1007/s10971-016-4221-y

Patents

E. Prouzet; Method and system for processing and searching documents (PCT/IB2016/055910) (03 October 2016)

University of Waterloo Affiliations

Member of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology
Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (member)

Professional Associations and Service

Dir. European Partnerships for Faculty of Science, 2014-15
Assoc. Dir. Global Initiatives Waterloo Institute Sustainable Energy (WISE), 2014-15
Executive Committee, 2008-10
Dir. for the Undergraduate specialization program in Biobased Chemistry (BSc Chemistry) in partnership with the University of Bordeaux (France)