EAGER: Electronic Modulation of Binding and Catalysis on Metal-Oxides: CO Oxidation on NiO

催化剂是用于加速和提高制造燃料和化学品的许多过程的能源效率的关键材料。该项目研究了一个新概念- -动态催化剂调制- -以进一步加快催化反应的速度，同时相应提高能源利用率和降低工艺设备的资本成本。如果成功，该概念可能适用于广泛的工业催化过程。研究者将把动态催化剂调制的原理融入到各种教育媒介中。材料的催化活性是由关键反应中间体的结合能决定的，通过能量缩放关系来描述，这预测了催化活性的最大值-以众所周知的萨巴蒂尔原理为特征-只有通过材料设计才能实现。该研究将调查场效应调制在多大程度上可以用来诱导应用电位的周期性振荡，在周转事件的时间尺度上，改变背控器件上氧化镍催化剂薄膜的结合能量。在不断振荡的应用电位下操作催化剂，其中反应中间体的结合能不断变化，允许单一催化剂以周期性的方式模拟多种材料的性能。改变费米能级将使催化剂的设计突破目前尺度关系的限制，达到前所未有的催化活性水平。一氧化碳和氧在氧化镍模型系统上的结合能随温度和后门电压的变化将被表征，以确定一氧化碳氧化动力学在稳态和振荡条件下作为后门电压的函数。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Catalysts are key materials used to accelerate and improve the energy efficiency of many processes for manufacturing fuels and chemicals. The project investigates a new concept - dynamic catalyst modulation - for further accelerating the rates of catalytic reactions, with corresponding improvements in energy utilization and reduced capital costs of process equipment. If successful, the concept is potentially applicable to a wide range of industrial catalytic processes. The investigators will incorporate the principles of dynamic catalyst modulation into various educational media.The catalytic activity of materials is dictated by the binding energetics of key reaction intermediates, described through energy scaling relationships, which predicts a maximum in the catalytic activity - characterized by the well-known Sabatier principle - achievable only through material design. The study will investigate the extent to which field-effect modulation can be used to induce periodic oscillations in applied potential, on the timescale of turnover events, that alter the binding energetics of nickel oxide catalyst films on back-gated devices. Operating catalysts under a constantly oscillating applied potential, where binding energetics of reaction intermediates are constantly changing, allows a single catalyst to mimic the performance of multiple materials in a periodic fashion. Altering the Fermi level will allow for the design of catalysts that break past the current limitations imposed by scaling relationships, to reach unprecedented levels of catalytic activity. The variation in binding energy of a carbon monoxide and oxygen on nickel oxide model system as a function of temperature and back-gate voltage will be characterized to determine carbon monoxide oxidation kinetics as a function of back gate voltage at steady state and oscillatory conditions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.