Collaborative Research: Nanomanufacturing of High-performance Graphene-based Electrocatalysts for Efficient Energy Conversion

利用水和阳光发电的绿色和可再生能源有望解决当前的能源和环境挑战。燃料电池技术利用光诱导水分解产生氧气和氢气，再加上这些气体的电化学反应，为直接利用水和阳光发电提供了一种可行的方法。然而，需要催化剂来促进电化学。铂是最先进的催化剂，但其有限的资源和高昂的成本限制了这些可再生能源技术的商业化。如果进行适当的功能化，石墨烯（以六角形图案排列的单层碳原子）可以取代昂贵的铂作为高性能催化剂，利用水和阳光产生清洁和可再生能源。然而，由于缺乏大规模低成本生产高质量石墨烯的方法，其市场应用受到阻碍。这项研究旨在填补能源应用高性能石墨烯基催化剂制造的知识空白。该项目旨在开发一种新型可扩展、低成本且环保的球磨技术，可直接将传统石墨（或铅笔芯）转化为石墨烯基催化剂。这项技术将为更高效、更低成本的燃料电池和电池（例如锂空气电池）的商业应用铺平道路。边缘功能化石墨烯已被证明是用于能量转换和存储的高性能电催化剂。该项目旨在开发一种球磨工艺，可直接将块状石墨转化为边缘功能化的石墨烯薄片。使用先进的分析工具来表征球磨过程中的分子结构变化。此外，还使用第一原理方法对自剥离和边缘功能化过程进行了分子模拟。表征和模拟任务将一起执行，以更好地了解球磨中的基本机械化学反应和石墨到石墨烯的结构演变，并指导材料和工艺开发。该项目的成功将为能源设备（包括燃料电池和金属空气电池）石墨烯基催化剂的可扩展纳米制造提供通用方法。除了这些研究和开发活动外，还将开展相关的教育计划，为各级学生提供研究培训和教育机会。

Green and renewable energy generation from water and sunlight holds great promise to solve the present energy and environmental challenges. The fuel cell technology, which utilizes light-induced water-splitting to produce oxygen and hydrogen gases coupled with the electrochemical reaction of these gases, offers a viable approach to electricity generation directly from water and sunlight. However, catalysts are required to facilitate the electrochemistry. Platinum is the state-of-the-art catalyst, but its limited resources and high cost have restricted commercialization of these renewable energy technologies. If properly functionalized, graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms placed in a hexagonal pattern, can replace expensive platinum as a high-performance catalyst for clean and renewable energy generation from water and sunlight. However, its applications to the market are hindered by the lack of approaches for large scale production of high-quality graphene at low-cost. This research is to fill the knowledge gap on manufacturing of high-performance graphene-based catalysts for energy applications. This project is to develop a novel scalable, low-cost, and eco-friendly ball milling technology that directly transforms conventional graphite - or pencil lead - into graphene-based catalysts. This technology will pave the way for more efficient and lower-cost fuel cells and batteries (e.g., lithium-air batteries) for commercial applications.Edge-functionalized graphene has been demonstrated as high-performance electrocatalysts for energy conversion and storage. This project aims at developing a ball milling process that directly converts bulk graphite into edge-functionalized graphene flakes. The molecular structural change during the ball milling is characterized using advanced analytic tools. In addition, molecular simulations of self-exfoliation and edge-functionalization processes are carried out using first-principles methods. Characterization and simulation tasks will be performed together to better understand the basic mechanochemical reactions and graphite-to-graphene structural evolution in ball milling, and to guide the materials and process development. The success of this project will provide a generic approach for scalable nanomanufacturing of graphene-based catalysts for energy devices, including fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Along with these research and development activities, an associated education program will be carried out to provide research training and education opportunities to all levels of students.