In situ Time-Resolved Spectroscopic Studies of Redox Reactions Involving Adsorbed Species

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Professor Daniel A. Scherson of Case Western Reserve University is supported by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging program of the Division of Chemistry to investigate the mechanism of reactions involving nitrogen and sulfur oxides both in molecular and ionic forms in aqueous solutions, as well as other species of relevance to energy conversion and electrosynthesis. Emphasis is centered on the development and implementation of spectroscopic techniques for monitoring in situ the time evolution of such species in the nanosecond domain and the factors that control the reaction pathways. The results emerging from these studies will open new prospects for addressing societal problems associated with environmental control and remediation, such as those derived from the overuse of fertilizers, and energy storage and conversion. This project focuses on the in situ static and dynamic characterization of irreversibly adsorbed electrocatalysts for these reactions, as well as the effect of the microtopography of selected bare and atom-modified single crystal metal surfaces on the nature of adsorbed intermediates and other interfacial properties. Insight into these issues will be gained from the coupling of microelectrodes, charge injection, and an array of complementary microscope-based spectroscopic techniques, including UV visible reflection spectroscopy, resonance and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopies, and sum frequency and second harmonic generation. The success of this work would provide a means for extending in situ spectroelectrochemical techniques into the nanosecond range, allowing the study of the dynamic aspects of electron transfer events of relevance to a variety of other fields, including electrocatalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, corrosion, sensors, and environmental science. Students involved in this research will be trained in a broad range of fundamental and applied disciplines.