IUCRC Phase II: UC Davis/Berkeley: Center for Rational Catalyst Synthesis (CeRCaS)

催化科学推动了称为催化剂的新型材料的创造，这些材料使化学转化发生，否则将是困难或不可能的。催化剂可能在汽车催化转化器中最为人所知，以减少汽车废气中的污染。催化剂用于生产各种具有社会重要性的产品，例如燃料、纺织品、塑料、食品和药品等。催化剂用于生产常见的化学品，如汽油，纺织品，塑料，食品和药品等。据估计，在化学工业中，催化剂占所有产品的95%以上（按体积计），占增加值的80%以上。世界上大约三分之一的经济直接或间接地依赖于催化剂。然而，尽管它们非常重要，但新催化剂的开发仍然主要通过试错来完成，因此耗时且昂贵。催化研究的一个巨大挑战是催化结构的精确设计和可控合成。将催化剂合成从一门艺术转变为一门科学的发现将有助于提高生产率，能源效率和非常广泛的工业基础的经济影响，该工业基础涉及通过化学将原材料转化为成品。 NSF工业大学合作研究中心（IUCRC）的合理催化剂合成（CeRCaS）解决了这一挑战，位于加州戴维斯/伯克利大学的新大学网站强调沸石催化剂的设计和合成的原子长度尺度。研究人员在新网站与行业的互动已经导致了富有成效的合作，涉及新的成员公司以及现有的弗吉尼亚联邦大学和南卡罗来纳州大学的网站。加州大学戴维斯分校/伯克利分校将通过增加各自校区新学生的参与来增强CeRCaS的现有能力。加州大学（UC）戴维斯分校/伯克利分校的网站专注于通过最先进的光谱表征和原子分辨率成像来实现CeRCaS中沸石催化剂的合理设计和合成。该网站主要关注沸石催化剂，因为它们规则的多孔结构为开发合成、结构和功能之间的联系提供了前所未有的机会。沸石催化包括已建立的方法，例如用于汽油制造的流化催化裂化。 沸石催化的高附加值应用正在迅速出现，例如用于柴油卡车的污染减排，聚合物化学品（及其升级循环和再利用）和制药。研究人员使用最先进的催化剂合成和表征能力以及分子建模。加州大学戴维斯分校/伯克利分校网站致力于为学生提供教育，作为他们职业发展的一部分。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The science of catalysis drives the creation of novel materials called catalysts that make chemical transformations occur that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. Catalysts are perhaps best known in automobile catalytic converters to reduce pollution in automobile exhaust. Catalysts are used to produce a wide variety of products of societal importance such as fuels, textiles, plastics, food and pharmaceutical products to name a few. Catalysts are used to produce common chemicals such as gasoline, textiles, plastics, food and pharmaceutical products to name a few. It has been estimated that catalysis accounts for over 95% (by volume) of all products and over 80% of added value in the chemical industry. About one third of the world’s economy depends directly or indirectly on catalysis. Yet in spite of their immense importance, the development of new catalysts is still largely done by trial-and-error, and is therefore time-consuming and expensive. A grand challenge of catalysis research is the precise design and controlled synthesis of catalytic structures. Discoveries which transform catalyst synthesis from an art to a science will serve to enhance the productivity, energy efficiency and economic impact of a very broad industry base that involves the conversion of raw materials into finished products through chemistry. The NSF Industry University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) for Rational Catalyst Synthesis (CeRCaS) addresses this challenge and the new university site located at University of California Davis/Berkeley emphasizes zeolite catalyst design and synthesis on the atomic length scale. Interactions of researchers in the new site with industry have already led to fruitful collaborations involving new member companies as well as the existing Virginia Commonwealth University and University of South Carolina sites. The UC Davis/Berkeley site will augment the current capabilities of CeRCaS by increasing participation of new pools of students at the respective campuses.The University of California (UC) Davis/Berkeley site focuses on enabling rational design and synthesis of zeolite catalysts in CeRCaS through state-of-the-art spectroscopic characterization and atomic-resolution imaging. The site focuses on zeolite catalysts, because their regular porous structures facilitate unprecedented opportunities in developing connections between synthesis, structure, and function. Zeolite catalysis includes established processes such as fluid catalytic cracking for gasoline manufacture. High value added applications of zeolite catalysis are emerging rapidly, such as for pollution abatement in diesel trucks, chemicals for polymers (and their upcycling and reuse), and pharmaceuticals. The researchers work with state-of-the-art catalyst synthesis and characterization capabilities as well as molecular modeling. The UC Davis/Berkeley site is dedicated to providing education of students as part of their career development.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.