CAREER: Modular Multi-Interface Nanocrystals for Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Biorenewable Alcohols

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).With the support of the Chemical Catalysis program in the Division of Chemistry, Sen Zhang of the University of Virginia is studying catalysts to efficiently oxidize renewable alcohols for the production of clean electricity and valuable chemicals. Clean energy is one of the central challenges of modern society. Renewable alcohols, such as ethanol, propanol, and butanol, produced from non-food biomass resources are important components of the United States energy strategic development plan for sustainable and affordable domestic energy resources. To utilize bio-renewable alcohols with higher energy conversion efficiency and lower carbon emission, this project will develop cost-effective catalysts that allow the bio-renewable alcohols to be designated as a carbon feedstock in electrochemical devices for electrical energy generation and chemical transformation. The knowledge obtained from this research will broadly benefit catalysis research for energy and environmental sustainability. The outcome of this project will accelerate the development and the scaled application of electrochemical devices, including fuel cells and electrosynthesis devices, potentially transforming the U.S. energy portfolio. Dr. Zhang’s research will be closely integrated with education plans and outreach activities, with an emphasis on the development of a “iCleanEnergy” pedagogical platform to enable active and customized learning for undergraduate clean energy education. The project will also involve educational outreach to minority serving institutions to increase minority participation in the energy sector. With the support of the Chemical Catalysis program in the Division of Chemistry, Sen Zhang of the University of Virginia is studying an emerging class of nanocrystals wherein multiple hetero-structured interfaces, including metal phosphide/metal (MP/M) core/shell and metal-metal (M-M) interfaces, are modularly integrated for electrocatalysis. By rationally designing and synthetically tuning these interfaces within each nanocrystal, this project aims to fundamentally understand interfacial effects on desirable electrocatalytic properties for the oxidation of biomass-derived alcohols, leading to the development of efficient catalysts for alcohol-fueled anion exchange membrane fuel cells and electrosynthesis devices. Dr. Zhang will leverage his team's abilities in advanced nanomaterials synthesis, structural characterization, electrocatalysis, and theoretical calculations to focus on three tasks: (1) optimizing the MP/Palladium core/shell interface to enhance the alcohol oxidation reaction by tuning MP cores; (2) modifying the palladium shell with carefully controlled palladium-M heterostructures; and (3) understanding the design rules for optimized alcohol oxidation catalysts through a combination of electrochemical and in-situ spectroscopic approaches. By taking an interdisciplinary approach, this project aims to address fundamental questions in catalysis and electrochemistry; in particular, how catalyst atomic structure and interfacial architecture correlate with catalyst activity, stability and selectivity.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.