SusChEM: Tunable Molecular Mimics for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Production

在这个由化学系化学催化计划资助的项目中，俄亥俄州州立大学的Yiying Wu教授正在开发用于制氢的分子催化剂。开发耐用的非贵金属催化剂作为昂贵和稀有铂的替代品，对于利用太阳能将水分解为氢和氧元素至关重要。水的分解使来自太阳的能量以化学形式储存起来。 当这些元素重新组合形成水时，能量被释放出来。 为了应对高效分解水的挑战，开发了新的良性合成方法以形成基于地球丰富元素的新型催化剂。这些新的催化剂在理解和模拟某些生物酶方面也很有用。该项目对可持续能源生产、储存和化学过程具有社会影响。 这项研究的更广泛的影响包括教育成分，社区推广和参与，沿着本科生导师。结合研究经验，以加强在俄勒冈州立大学的学习努力，其中一个教育组成部分是为本科生无机化学实验室创建一个基于合成和均相电催化的真实研究实验。该项目侧重于基于硫化钼（MoS 2）的分子和聚合物复合物的新型环境友好催化剂-特别是模拟用于电催化制氢的MoS 2边缘位点。各种催化剂结构正在合成和研究中。催化机制的探索相结合的实验方法，如同步辐射X射线吸收光谱与计算的努力，如密度泛函理论（DFT）计算。这种系统的、协同的合成和机理的研究有助于阐明分子催化剂的结构与其电催化活性之间的关系。机械知识还提供了大量二硫化钼和生物酶的功能的见解。

In this project funded by the Chemical Catalysis program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Yiying Wu of the Ohio State University is developing molecular catalysts for hydrogen production. Developing robust and non-precious metal catalysts as alternatives to expensive and rare platinum is critical for splitting water into its elements - hydrogen and oxygen - using the energy of the sun. Water splitting allows energy from the sun to be stored in chemical form. When these elements are recombined to form water, energy is released. To meet the challenge of splitting water efficiently, new benign synthetic methods are developed to form new catalysts based on earth abundant elements. The new catalysts are also useful in understanding and mimicking some biological enzymes. This project has societal impact on sustainable energy generation, storage, and chemical processes. The broader impact of this research comprises educational components, community outreach and engagement, along with undergraduate student mentorship. In conjunction with the Research Experiences to Enhance Learning efforts at OSU, one of the educational components is to create an authentic research experiment for the undergraduate Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory based on the synthesis and homogeneous electrocatalysis.This project focuses on new environmentally benign catalysts based on molecular and polymeric complexes of molybdenum sulfide (MoS2)- specifically mimicking the MoS2 edge sites for electrocatalytic hydrogen production. Various catalyst structures are being synthesized and examined. The catalytic mechanism is probed by combining experimental methods such as synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy with computational efforts such as density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This systematic and synergistic synthetic and mechanistic study may shed light on the relationship between the structures of the molecular catalysts and their electrocatalytic activities. The mechanistic knowledge also provides insight into the functions of bulk MoS2 and biological enzymes.