Dr. James Tour's website can be found at:  http://www.jmtour.com/.

Professor Tour has hugely impacted the field of materials science and engineering using his background in synthetic organic and organometallic chemistry. Professor Tour is a synthetic organic chemist but he transitioned those skills into his work on carbon materials, first in fullerene chemistry, and later into a series of new carbon materials including graphene and molecular machine designs and device constructions for nanoelectronics and energy devices.

This has also involved the use of metal oxides and porous metal structures for advances in materials for the environment and energy and electronics industry. The materials projects that Professor Tour has been involved with are widespread, spanning across numerous areas of science:

• Fullerene synthesis, purification and functionalization
• Nanocars (nanomachines) with fullerene wheels and light activated motors
• Planar conjugated polymers and precise length oligomers for optoelectronic applications
• Single- and multi-walled carbon nanotube synthesis, purification and manipulation
• Composites based upon carbon nanotubes and graphene
• Conductive inks with nanotubes for transistors and radio frequency identification tags
• Nanoreporters based on functionalized carbon black nanoparticles that can give information regarding downhole environments in oil wells
• Nanotubes for in-flight composite repair of spacecraft
• Graphene synthesis and doped graphene synthesis using solid carbon sources
• Graphene lithography with single-atomic-layer resolution
• Nontoxic carbon nanoparticles in medicine for drug delivery and traumatic brain injury
• Formation of graphene nanoribbons through the longitudinal splitting of carbon nanotubes
• The growth of large-area single crystal graphene
• Seamless carbon nanotube-graphene hybrid materials
• The construction of renewable energy devices from carbon and porous metal materials: supercapacitors, lithium ion batteries, water splitting materials, hydrogen evolution reactions and oxygen reduction reactions for fuel cell
• Two-terminal resistive random access memories based upon silicon oxide
• The capture of carbon dioxide from natural gas wells using inexpensive carbon supports to generate poly(CO2), an entirely new method of CO2 fixation through self-polymerization
• The capture of radionuclides from water for the cleanup of nuclear contamination sites

These advances over Professor Tour's career have led to over 500 research publications, 50,000 citations (placing him in the top-10 most highly cited chemists in the world over the past decade), and over 70 patents, 30 of which have been licensed by companies around the world. His work on nanocars, for bottom-up construction of materials systems, was the most highly accessed paper of all American Chemical Society articles in 2005, and was also listed as the second most influential scientific advance that same year by LiveScience.com. But it is the latter two discoveries listed above, CO2 capture and radionuclide cleanup, that lead into the discussion of the advancement of civilization through profound environmental stewardship.

There are two discoveries, in particular, that Professor Tour has made which are having a profound impact upon humankind as they have been licensed and are moving toward rapid deployment for the protection and cleanup of the environment. The first is the capture of CO2 from natural gas wells using inexpensive carbon supports. Natural gas is considered the cleanest and recently the most abundant fossil fuel source, yet when it is extracted from wells, it often contains 10 to 20 mol% CO2 (20 to 40 wt%) which is generally vented to the atmosphere; a deleterious contributor to greenhouse gases. Efforts are underway to contain this CO2 at the wellhead using inexpensive and non-corrosive methods. Professor Tour developed nucleophilic porous carbons from simple and inexpensive carbon-sulfur and carbon-nitrogen precursors that can have 2500 m2/g surface area, yet densities >1 g/mL. Amazingly, the CO2 is captured by polymerization in the carbon channels to form poly(CO2) under much lower pressures than previously required, merely using the inherent partial pressure of CO2 coming from the well itself. This growing chemisorbed sulfur- or nitrogen-atom-initiated poly(CO2) chain further displaces physisorbed hydrocarbon, providing a continuous CO2 selectivity. Once returned to ambient conditions, the poly(CO2) spontaneously depolymerizes, leading to a sorbent that can be easily regenerated without the thermal energy input that is required for traditional sorbents. These advances have led to a series of patents that have all been licensed by oil companies for rapid deployment in the field.

The second area that is having an immediate impact on humankind is the capture of radionuclides from water using graphene oxide (GO) and other oxidized carbons. Professor Tour and his collaborators at Moscow State University showed that GO, with its 2800 m2/g surface area, fully dissolves in water, and its high negative charge results in capture of the cationic radionuclides from contaminated water in an unprecedented manner. Through a license agreement with Houston-based Zonko Corp., this technology is first being deployed in Fukushima, Japan, for the cleanup of the radionuclides Cs, Sr and Am, in particular, from the stored water, groundwater, and even the harbor water. The GO is able to capture these nuclides kinetically faster than any other known material, and since the carbon material is easily incinerated, it leaves an ultra-small volume of waste for burial. This collaborative cleanup effort, in partnership with Toshiba and Mitsubishi, initiated by a visit of Professor Tour to Japan in February 2014, could have an unprecedented effect on the betterment of the Fukushima site as deployment is presently underway.

As a Messianic Jew, Professor Tour (a Jew believing that Jesus is Messiah), is known throughout the scientific community for his deeply held Christian values of service to humankind through continual good works. Through a profound experience at the age of 18, Professor Tour dedicated his life to the service of God and his fellow human beings through direct acts of good and spiritual teaching. For example, during the first 10 years of Professor Tour's academic career as a professor at the University of South Carolina, he volunteered in a maximum security prison every Monday night instructing a room full of inmates from the teachings of Jesus Christ, and serving meals to hundreds of them every Christmas and Easter. After moving to Rice University in 1999, Professor Tour has taught from the Bible every week to a large group of college student, now numbering more than 100 in the class, regarding the precepts of Jesus Christ, on honesty, kindness, and the demonstration of acts of service per Titus 2:14: "Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."

As a demonstration of biblical hospitality, Professor Tour and his wife have an "open house" every Sunday afternoon wherein they serve a meal for anyone interested in coming, which usually numbers more than 50 students in the Tour home every Sunday. Professor Tour covers all the cost himself as a dedication of service to others. He and his wife prepare at least three cuisines each week: American, Indian and a third ethnicity for variety. These lunches are attended by students from all continents and religions. Professor Tour fellowships with the students, many of whom come to ask him about life's deeper questions, for hours on end, wherein he counsels and encourages them. In addition, Professor Tour travels to Israel for one-month scientific lecture tours where he couples the science with discussions of faith and God with the Jewish people whom he considers his "brothers". The time and resources that Professor Tour devotes to the spiritual well-being of others from all walks of life, ethnicities, and social strata, is staggering. This in itself is a small miracle that such an accomplished and busy scientist can have this fourth dimension of spiritual impact upon his fellow human beings. One might even call it a testament of God touching the world through Professor Tour's life. Some video on Professor Tour's faith and the intersection of that faith with science can be found at:

https://vimeo.com/103387262  

http://vimeo.com/51659084