Collaborative Research: I/UCRC Phase I: The Center for Rational Catalyst Synthesis

催化是一门隐藏但影响很大的科学，位于能源、化学和环境行业的核心。催化剂可能在汽车催化转化器中最为人所知，但同样类型的催化过程也负责生产汽油、纺织品和化肥等日用化学品以及制药等特种化学品。据估计，在化学工业中，催化反应占所有产品的95%以上，占附加值的80%以上。世界三分之一左右？S经济直接或间接依赖于催化作用。尽管它们具有巨大的重要性，但新的多相催化剂的开发仍然主要是经验的，也就是说，这是耗时和昂贵的，特别是在合成阶段。催化的一个重大挑战正是催化结构的设计和受控合成。我们将催化剂合成从一门艺术转化为一门科学的基础研究，将为石油、化工和制药公司以及催化剂制造商开发新型催化剂节省大量时间和精力。优化的催化剂可以以最高效、最经济、最环保的方式实现化学转化，减少原材料使用、能源需求和温室气体排放。合理催化剂合成中心(CECAS)将成为世界上第一个也是唯一一个专注于了解催化剂合成化学基础的研究中心？S。Cercas将利用南卡罗来纳大学和弗吉尼亚联邦大学强大的、互补的专业知识。我们的工业合作伙伴将帮助我们选择和完善三个方面的研究项目，第一，金属沉积的基础，包括金属沉积机理的现场观察和纳米颗粒生成的各种方法；第二，固-固结合的热力学和动力学，将通过理论和实验来探索，以预测金属氧化物在载体表面的润湿或烧结，以及预测尺寸、形状，以及在双金属的情况下，负载纳米颗粒的组成，以及第三，用于特定反应的精确位置合成，其中纳米颗粒将被合成具有特定尺寸。含量(单一或多种金属)和形态，因此可以针对特定的催化反应进行优化，或将昂贵贵金属的含量降至最低。研究生将接受类似于美国国家科学基金会工程研究中心的实践思维指导。这种工业倾向将来自两个来源：第一，内部来自VCU？S现场主任(古普顿)和南加州大学S副主任(莫尼尔)，他们在工业领域拥有杰出的研究生涯；第二，外部，来自工业研究对个别研究项目的直接参与。教育外展将包括招聘和最终安置任职人数不足的群体。这两所大学都有大量的女性和少数族裔可以与之共事。

Catalysis is a hidden but high impact science at the heart of the energy, chemical and environmental industries. Catalysts are perhaps best known in automobile catalytic converters, but the same types of catalytic processes are responsible for commodity chemicals such as gasoline, textiles, and fertilizer and specialty chemicals such as pharmaceuticals. It has been estimated that catalysis accounts for over 95% (by volume) of all products and over 80% of added value in the chemical industry. About one third of the world?s economy depends directly or indirectly on catalysis. In spite of their immense importance, the development of new heterogeneous catalysts is still largely empirical, which is to say, time-consuming and expensive, particularly at the stage of synthesis. A grand challenge of catalysis is precisely the ?design and controlled synthesis of catalytic structures.? Our fundamental research in transforming catalyst synthesis from an art to a science will save tremendous amounts of time and energy in the development of new catalysts for petroleum, chemical and pharmaceutical companies as well as catalyst manufacturers. Optimized catalysts allow chemical conversions to be achieved in the most efficient, economical, and environmentally responsible manner, reducing raw material usage, energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions.The Center for Rational Catalyst Synthesis (CeRCaS) will be the world?s first and only research center with the focus on understanding the chemical fundamentals of catalyst synthesis. CeRCaS will bring to bear powerful, complementary expertise at the University of South Carolina and Virginia Commonwealth University. The research projects which our industrial partners will help us select and refine are in three thrusts, first, The Fundamentals of Metal Deposition including in-situ observation of metal deposition mechanisms and a variety of methods for nanoparticle genesis, second, Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Solid-Solid Bonding, to be explored with theory and experiment to allow prediction of the wetting or sintering of metal oxides on support surfaces, and prediction of the size, shape and, in the case of bimetallics, composition of supported nanoparticles, and third, Precision Site Synthesis for Specific Reactions, in which nanoparticles will be synthesized with specific size, content (single or multi-metals) and morphology and so be optimized for particular catalytic reactions or to minimize the content of expensive precious metals. Graduate students will be mentored with the practical mindset akin to an NSF Engineering Research Center. This industrial bent will stem from two sources; first, internally, from VCU?s site Director (Gupton) and USC?s Deputy Director (Monnier) who hail from distinguished research careers in industry, and second, externally, from direct involvement of industrial research in individual research projects. Educational outreach will include the recruitment and eventual industrial placement of underrepresented groups. Both Universities have significant pools of women and minorities with whom to work.