GOALI: CAS: Oxygen Evolution Catalysts for Membrane Electrolysis: From Fundamentals to Applications

发展清洁和可持续的能源对人类文明的经济和环境活力至关重要。可再生能源，如太阳能和风能，是间歇性的，因此以为地球提供动力所需的能力与化石燃料整合成本高昂。需要可扩展、廉价的储能技术。在这个项目中，Boettcher博士(俄勒冈大学)与Proton OnSite/NEL氢气(康涅狄格州沃灵福德)的Ayers博士合作，利用可再生电力作为输入，研究水(H2O)转化为氢(H2)和氧气(O2)的过程。氢气是一种可持续的、无碳的、可再生的燃料，可以取代化石燃料。它可以用于燃料电池，按需重新发电，或者像天然气一样燃烧，不会排放二氧化碳。这项研究正在解决整个反应中氧气生产部分的低效问题。该团队结合基础研究来了解这种反应是如何发生的，以及如何改善它。产业界和学术界的合作正在商业相关的系统中测试这一发现。在一个例子中，该团队正在研究含有铁的化学物质在不同环境中如何加速氧气的产生并节省制造氢气的能源。该团队正在努力了解这些铁物种在长期实际操作条件下是如何变化的。该团队还在设计与现有技术配合良好、但制造成本较低的新材料。参与该项目的研究生完成了在Proton OnSite的行业实习。该团队与当地中学生开展外联活动，让他们参与俄勒冈大学校园内的实际能源储存和可持续发展实验室活动，并通过沉浸研究课程向一年级大学生介绍科学研究。该奖项的资金由化学部的化学催化计划和化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统的催化计划提供。来自俄勒冈大学(UO)的Shannon Boettcher教授正与康涅狄格州沃林福德质子现场/NEL氢气研究所的Kathy Ayers博士及其团队合作，使用受控良好的电化学合成在不同的局部环境中生成过渡金属氢氧化物和氧化物相中的铁，并使用一系列先进的操作手技术来探索OER机制和活性/耐久性关系。他们揭示了在长时间和高电流密度下，导致(氧)氢氧化物/氧化物OER催化剂性能下降的成分、结构和形态动力学。该团队还创造了新的合成方法来组装贵金属OER催化剂，用于质子交换膜电解槽，其中每个贵金属原子都可用于驱动OER，同时通过适当的氧键与非活性金属阳离子和载体相互作用来化学稳定。这项研究有可能分离OER催化剂稳定性和活性之间的明显反向关系，同时通过在NEL氢/质子现场的研究生实习和对俄勒冈州的行业研究人员访问将行业和学术研究人员联系起来。这些科学目标与宣传和教育活动相结合。研究生带领本科生团队完成由Boettcher开发的“研究浸入式”课程，该课程使一年级的化学学生能够通过研究真正未解决的科学问题来获得普通化学实验室的学分。通过Boettcher创建的一个持续计划，向缺乏服务的学生提供在能源和电化学领域的中学实践推广活动。该奖项由化学部的化学催化计划以及化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统中的催化计划提供资金。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The development of clean and sustainable energy sources is critical for the economic and environmental vitality of human civilization. Renewables, such as sun and wind power, are intermittent and thus expensive to integrate with fossil fuels at the capacity needed to power the planet. Scalable, inexpensive energy-storage technologies are needed. In this project, Dr. Boettcher (University of Oregon) is collaborating with Dr. Ayers at Proton OnSite / Nel Hydrogen (Wallingford, Connecticut) to study the conversion of water (H2O) into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) gas using renewable electricity as the input. Hydrogen gas is a sustainable, carbon-free, renewable fuel to replace fossil fuels. It can be used in fuel cells to re-generate electricity on demand or burned like natural gas, without carbon dioxide emission. This research is addressing the inefficiency of the oxygen production part of the overall reaction. The team combines fundamental studies to understand how this reaction occurs and how to improve it. The industry-academic collaboration is testing the findings in commercially-relevant systems. In one example, the team is studying how chemical species containing iron, when placed in different environments, speed up the generation of oxygen and save energy in making hydrogen. The team is working to understand how these iron species change under long-term practical operating conditions. The team is also designing new materials that work well with existing technology but are less expensive to manufacture. The graduate students working on the project complete industry internships at Proton OnSite. The team conducts outreach activities with local middle school students that engages them in hands-on energy storage and sustainability laboratory activities on the University of Oregon campus, and introduces first year university students to scientific research through research-immersion courses. Funding for this award is provided by the Chemical Catalysis Program in the Division of Chemistry and the Catalysis Program in Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems. Professor Shannon Boettcher from the University of Oregon (UO) is collaborating with Dr. Kathy Ayers at Proton OnSite / Nel Hydrogen (Wallingford, CT) and her team to use well-controlled electrochemical synthesis to create Fe in different local environments in transition-metal oxyhydroxide and oxide phases and probe OER mechanism and activity/durability relationships using a host of advanced operando techniques. They uncover the compositional, structural, and morphological dynamics that drive performance degradation in (oxy)hydroxide/oxide OER catalysts under long-durations and high-current densities. The team also creates new synthetic approaches to assemble precious-metal OER catalysts for use in proton-exchange-membrane electrolyzers where every precious metal atom is available to drive the OER while chemically stabilized by appropriate oxo linkages to inactive metal cations and through support interactions. This research has the potential to decouple the apparent inverse relationship observed between stability and activity for OER catalysts while connecting industry and academic researchers through graduate-student internships at Nel Hydrogen / Proton Onsite and industry researcher visits to Oregon. These science aims are coupled with outreach and education activities. Graduate students lead teams of undergraduates through a “research-immersion” course developed by Boettcher that enables first-year chemistry students to earn credit for general chemistry laboratory by working on real, unsolved scientific questions. Hands-on middle school outreach events in the area of energy and electrochemistry are available to underserved students through an ongoing program founded by Boettcher. Funding for this award is provided by the Chemical Catalysis Program in the Division of Chemistry and the Catalysis Program in Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems.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.