CAREER: Chiral Ceramic Sensors

具体：各种技术(如燃料电池、催化、传感器)依赖于陶瓷表面和界面上发生的电/化学现象。然而，我们对这些界面的整体理解是不成熟的，因为我们通常缺乏机械性和预测性的结构-属性关系。这项研究的最终目的是为传感器和催化剂的应用提供表面性质的基础。这将在开发一类新的金属氧化物气体传感器的框架内进行，该传感器基于手性(手)表面，能够检测和区分手性分子。因此，基本的实验目标是从机理上理解有机分子和手性氧化物表面之间的相互作用。这将包括原子尺度上的手性表面，例如Mo8O23(010)，以及那些被定制为具有手性纳米/微结构的表面。表面性质将通过制造和测试模型传感器和程序升温脱附光谱进行研究，而表面和本体结构将使用适当的探头进行询问。这项研究将促进我们对表面和分子结构在氧化物反应性(即表面结构-性质关系)中所起作用的总体理解，以及新的和强大的传感器功能。辅助性教育和外展活动包括：(1)与中学科学教师合作，开发以电化学技术为中心的多媒体课程模块，以加强初中/高中科学课程，提高学生对材料科学的认识；与当地社区学院建立外展计划，为来自代表性不足群体的学生提供研究和指导机会；以及(3)这是一个外展计划，旨在使PI的研究目标与行业需求保持一致，并加强他作为研究人员和教育工作者的发展。这将包括对工业和政府实验室(美国和国外)的长期访问，重点是电化学和界面技术。一般情况：金属氧化物具有独特的表面性质，使其有助于检测、合成和净化化学品和我们的环境。感官应用包括检测有毒物质(如一氧化碳)和监测汽车中的燃料组合，以将温室气体排放降至最低。金属氧化物催化剂对塑料和医药的大规模生产至关重要，可以用来净化我们的空气和水。虽然金属氧化物的表面性质已经被大规模和多样化地利用，但我们对这些性质的整体理解是有限的，特别是我们设计和预测它们的能力。因此，我们经常依赖于耗时且代价高昂的反复试验的开发方法。因此，这项研究的最终目的是促进我们对金属氧化物表面结构和化学性质的基本理解。所获得的知识将导致强大的新型传感器，更重要的是，增强我们有效设计各种应用的金属氧化物表面的能力。在进行这项研究的同时，国际和平协会将开展一些旨在(1)的教育和外联活动。加强中学和本科的科学教育，(2)招收材料和电化学科学等重要领域的新学生；加强作为教育者和研究人员的PI自身的发展。

Specific: A variety of technologies (e.g. fuel cells, catalysis, sensors) rely on electro/chemical phenomena that occur at ceramic surfaces and interfaces. Our overall understanding of these interfaces is however immature, in that we generally lack mechanistic and predictive structure-property relations. The ultimate goal of this research is to advance such relations for the surface properties that are the basis of sensor and catalyst applications. It will be approached within the framework of developing a new class of metal oxide gas sensors, based on chiral (handed) surfaces, capable of detecting and differentiating chiral molecules. Hence, the underlying experimental objective is to develop a mechanistic understanding of the interactions between organic molecules and chiral oxide surfaces. This will include surfaces that are chiral on the atomic scale, e.g. Mo8O23(010), and those that are tailored to have chiral nano/microstructures. Surface properties will be investigated through the fabrication and testing of model sensors and temperature programmed desorption spectroscopy, while surface and bulk structure will be interrogated using appropriate probes. This study will advance our general understanding of the roles surface and molecular structure play in oxide reactivity (i.e. surface structure-property relations) as well as new and powerful sensor functionalities. Complementary education and outreach activities include, (1.) the development, in collaboration with secondary science instructors, of multimedia course modules centered on electrochemical technologies that will enhance middle/high school science curricula and raise students' awareness of materials science, (2.) the establishment of an outreach program with a local community college to provide research and mentoring opportunities to students from underrepresented groups, and (3.) an outreach program designed to align the PI's research goals with the needs of industry and augment his development as a researcher and educator. This will include extended visits to industrial and government laboratories (U.S. and abroad) focused on electrochemical and interfacial technologies.General: Metal oxides have unique surface properties that make them useful for detecting, synthesizing, and purifying chemicals and our environment. Sensory applications include detecting poisons (such as carbon monoxide) and monitoring the fuel mix in automobiles to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Metal oxide catalysts are vital to the large-scale production of plastics and pharmaceuticals and can be used to purify our air and water. While the surface properties of metal oxides are already exploited on large and diverse scales, our overall understanding of these properties is limited, particularly our ability to engineer and predict them. As a result, we often rely on time consuming and costly trial-and-error methods of development. Hence, the ultimate goal of this research is to advance our fundamental understanding of the structure and chemical properties of metal oxide surfaces. The knowledge gained will lead to powerful new types of sensors and, more importantly, enhance our ability to efficiently engineer metal oxide surfaces for a variety of applications. Concurrent with this research, the PI will conduct a number of education and outreach activities intended to (1.) enhance science education at the secondary and undergraduate levels, (2.) recruit new students to the vital fields of materials and electrochemical sciences, and (3.) augment the PI's own development as an educator and researcher.