SNM: High-Throughput Electrospinning of Photocatalytic Mats for Energy Harvesting

静电纺丝是一种纳米制造工艺，其能够实现纳米纤维（通常是聚合物及其复合材料）的自支撑、三维和/或分层网络的单步加工。近年来，该工艺已被开发用于纳米陶瓷的合成。 然而，所生产的静电纺丝毡的数量和质量仍然接近实验室规模。该奖项的重点是推进陶瓷纤维静电纺丝，以确保高工艺产量，工艺和产品的可重复性和再现性，沿着优化的质量控制。预期的结果是一个商业上可行的，高通量的，纳米制造过程，生产功能性纳米陶瓷在大批量和低成本。通过水分解将太阳能转化为氢燃料的先进光催化剂的加工是该奖项所涉及的电纺氧化物的目标应用之一。在材料可用性和从太阳收集能量方面，美国经济和社会福利有多种预期利益。这个多学科项目汇集了材料制造，纳米材料合成，电化学，机械工程和计算建模方面的专业知识。该奖项将增加熟练的劳动力，指导基于陶瓷静电纺丝的纳米材料制造新产业的发展，从而创造更多的就业机会。该奖项解决了与大规模3D垫形成机制相关的基本问题，该3D垫由自支撑的高表面积陶瓷氧化物纳米结构组成。它跨越多个学科，是四个合作者的共同努力，在纳米纤维材料加工，结构和机械性能表征和建模以及光催化性能评估方面具有互补的专业知识。将对纺丝和煅烧纳米纤维垫的结构特征进行建模，以微调其加工条件并优化高通量工艺的最终设计。电纺毡的机械性能的测量将决定它们作为光催化毯的性能。评估的光电化学性能的垫将指导其定制的合成。在这项工作中采用的方法和技术，预计将彻底改变工业过程的nanomanufacture的自支撑/非分散陶瓷纳米纤维垫能源相关的applications.This项目是由工程局和材料研究司在数学和物理科学局共同资助。

Electrospinning is a nanomanufacturing process that enables the single step processing of self-supported, three-dimensional, and/or hierarchical networks of nanofibers, typically of polymers and their composites. This process has been exploited in recent years for the synthesis of nanoscale ceramics. However, the amount and quality of the electrospun mats produced are still close to a laboratory-scale. The focus of this award is to advance ceramic nanofiber electrospinning to ensure high process yield, process and product repeatability and reproducibility, along with optimized quality control. The anticipated result is a commercially-viable, high-throughput, nanomanufacturing process that produces functional nano-ceramics in large volumes and at a low cost. Processing of advanced photocatalysts for solar energy conversion to hydrogen fuel through water splitting is one of the targeted applications for the electrospun oxides addressed by this award. There are multiple anticipated benefits to the US economy and the welfare of the society, in terms of material availability and it's use in harvesting energy from the sun. This multidisciplinary project brings together expertise in materials manufacturing, nanomaterials synthesis, electrochemistry, mechanical engineering, and computational modeling. This award will add to the skilled workforce that will guide the growth of new industries for nanomaterials manufacturing based on ceramic electrospinning, thus creating more jobs. This award addresses fundamental issues related to the mechanism of formation of large-scale 3D mats, comprised of self-supported, high surface area, ceramic oxide nanostructures. It spans several disciplines, and it is the joint effort between four collaborators with complementary expertise in nanofibrous materials processing, structural and mechanical property characterization and modeling, and photocatalytic property assessment. The structural features of the as-spun and calcined nanofibrous mats will be modeled to enable the fine-tuning of their processing conditions and to optimize the final design of the high-throughput process. The measurement of the mechanical properties of the electrospun mats will determine how they will perform as photocatalytic blankets. Assessment of the photoelectrochemical properties of the mats will guide their tailored synthesis. The methods and techniques employed in this work are expected to revolutionize industrial processes for the nanomanufacturing of self-supported / non-dispersed ceramic nanofibrous mats for energy-related applications.This project is jointly funded by the Engineering Directorate and the Division of Materials Research in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.