CAS: Enhancing the Reactivity and Photoreactivity of Metal Oxide Surfaces through Fluorination

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With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Dr. Melissa Hines of Cornell University will investigate the reactivity and photoreactivity of fluorinated and fluorine-doped titanium dioxide using scanning tunneling microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and density functional theory. The resulting atomic-scale understanding of these surfaces is expected to contribute to the development of sustainable, non-toxic, earth-abundant nanocatalysts and photocatalysts. Dr. Hines and the research team are advancing discovery in nanocatalysis, sustainable chemistry, and surface science. This research is also training the next generation of scientists in a field that is important to maintaining US economic competitiveness. To increase the number and diversity of students entering science and technology fields, they are developing modules for middle school students that focus on quantitative measurements and scientific experiments that engage both students and faculty.This research involves the development of chemical reactions and an ultraclean reactor to study the solution-phase chemistry and photochemistry of fluorinated titanium dioxide. This includes the determination of the primary mechanisms that lead to fluorine-functionalized titanium dioxide surfaces and the role of photogenerated charge carriers in these mechanisms, identification of new fluorination agents for preparing atomically flat fluorinated titanium dioxide surfaces, and assessment of the impact of fluorination on the photoreactivity of titanium dioxide. This research will also address the photo-fluorination of organic acids in aqueous solution. Developing an atomic-scale understanding of these surfaces and their reactivity has the potential to enable the production of passivated, contamination-resistant metal oxide surfaces and high reactivity photofluorination catalysts that operate under more environmentally friendly conditions than current catalysts.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.