CAREER: Surface-Inspired Catalysis via an Updated Cluster-Surface Analogy

在化学系化学催化（CAT）项目的支持下，宾夕法尼亚大学的Neil Tomson教授正在开发制造运输燃料的新化学路线。交通运输占美国所有能源消耗的四分之一。 大多数运输燃料来自石油。 该项目的目标是来自可再生能源的燃料，这些燃料能够很好地适应当前的基础设施。其中一个目标是将氢与氮结合产生氨，这是一种潜在的新“能量存储介质”。 第二个项目研究从二氧化碳（CO2，一种工业废物）到碳氢化合物的新途径。 目前用于这种化学反应的方法是昂贵的;为了潜在地降低从CO2生产燃料的成本，这项研究强调了新催化剂的设计。 这些新的催化剂以类似于本体金属催化剂的方式具有金属对。 这些特定的几何形状有利于生产燃料所需的键形成和键断裂步骤。 从事该项目的学生将获得先进化学合成和催化剂评估的实践经验。 年轻的研究人员还接受了向广大受众传播科学成果的培训。 这种培训包括讲座以及针对高中生的录像制作。目标受众包括那些传统教育场所服务不足和STEM学科代表性不足的人。 截至2018年，运输部门使用的能源中有92%来自石油开采。 这种资源的预期耗尽，沿着不断变化的环境和国家安全问题，促使开发既来源于可再生资源又与国家现有能源基础设施相容的燃料。 在这个项目中，由化学系化学催化计划支持，宾夕法尼亚大学的Neil Tomson教授研究了合成氨和烷烃的新催化剂。 虽然太阳能氢变得越来越可用，但用于对小原料化学品进行低能量氢化的方法仍然不发达。 汤姆森教授的研究针对两个可能对未来能源经济至关重要的过程。 第一种方法旨在使氨脱氢。 第二种但相关的方法旨在从合成气产生烃。 该研究从多相催化，特别是那些利用金属表面的催化中获得灵感。 新的催化剂结合了电子和几何灵活性，可以模仿金属表面的关键特性。 在初步实验中，新的催化剂已被证明稳定了广泛的中间体先前提出的米塔什和费托催化剂。 最后，该项目的重点是减轻国家对化石燃料的依赖，这突出了未来科学家需要能够在其直接学科之外进行创造性思考。 通过接触高中生、本科生和研究生，包括许多在STEM学科中代表性不足的少数民族学生，该项目致力于激励下一代科学家，同时帮助发展元认知技能，这些技能对这种交叉至关重要，该奖项反映了NSF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。

Supported by the Chemical Catalysis (CAT) Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Neil Tomson of the University of Pennsylvania is developing new chemical routes to make transportation fuels. Transportation accounts for one-quarter of all energy use in the United States. Most transportation fuel comes from petroleum. This project targets fuels from renewable sources that adapt well with current infrastructure. One objective focuses on combining hydrogen with nitrogen to give ammonia, a potentially new "energy storage media". A second project examines new pathways from carbon dioxide (CO2, an industrial waste product) to hydrocarbons. Current methods for such chemical reactions are expensive; to potentially reduce the cost of fuel production from CO2 this research emphasizes the design of new catalysts. These new catalysts feature pairs of metals in a manner that resembles bulk metal catalysts. These particular geometries facilitate the bond making and bond breaking steps required for producing the fuels. Students working on this project gain hands-on experience on advanced chemical synthesis and catalyst evaluation. The young researchers are also trained to communicate scientific results to a broad audience. This training involves lectures as well as the production of videos aimed at high school students. The target audiences include those underserved by traditional educational venues and underrepresented in the STEM disciplines. As of 2018, 92% of the energy used by the transportation sector came from petroleum mining. The anticipated depletion of this resource, along with shifting environmental and national security concerns, motivates the development of fuels that are both derived from renewable resources and compatible with the nation’s existing energy infrastructure. In this project, supported by the Chemical Catalysis Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Neil Tomson of the University of Pennsylvania, investigates new catalysts to synthesize ammonia and alkanes. Although solar hydrogen is becoming increasingly available, methods for performing low-energy hydrogenations of small feedstock chemicals remain underdeveloped. Professor Tomson's research is targeting two processes that are likely to be critical for the future energy economy. The first process aims at dehydrogenation of ammonia. The second, but related process, aims to generate hydrocarbons from synthesis gas. The research draws inspiration from heterogeneous catalysis, especially those utilizing metallic surfaces. The new catalysts incorporate electronic and geometric flexibility, which may emulate key characteristics of metallic surfaces. In preliminary experiments, the new catalysts have been shown to stabilize a wide range of intermediates previously proposed for the Mittasch and Fischer-Tropsch catalysts. Finally, this project’s focus on mitigating the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels highlights a need for scientists of the future to be able to think creatively outside their immediate discipline. By reaching high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, including many from minority populations that are underrepresented in the STEM disciplines, the project endeavors to inspire the next generation of scientists, while aiding in the development of the metacognitive skill sets that are known to be critical to this cross-cutting creativity.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.