CAREER: Development of Self-Healing Electrocatalysts via a Tunable Non-Covalent Design

在化学系化学催化计划的支持下，芝加哥大学化学系的Anna Wuttig博士正在开发一种新型的用于氧还原反应(ORR)的电催化剂，这种催化剂通过设计可以自我修复。研究目标是通过基于非共价相互作用的平台来获得耐用的能量转换设备，即燃料电池，以生产用于ORR的自组装电催化剂。能量转换和存储科学的进步取决于电催化新策略的发展。伍蒂希博士和她的团队成员制定了一项协同教育计划，旨在通过建立以电化学实验室为基础的模块，扩大本科生和高中学生对电化学的参与，以满足学生在化学和物理方面的工作水平。为了生产稳定和自我修复的ORR电催化剂，Wuttig小组方法将两亲分子的有机和无机合成与电催化剂在极化电极上的原位非共价自组装结合在一起。通过推进这种非共价合成技术，这项研究的目的是(I)生成一系列新的包含第一排过渡金属的自组装ORR电催化剂，以及(Ii)进行结构-功能关系研究，以揭示自我修复所必需的关键结构特征，从而实现持久的ORR催化。Wuttig研究团队将通过表征模型(非催化)自组装层的非共价层动力学和厚度，合成包含定义明确的第一排过渡金属电活性单元的自组装层并表征其ORR活性，以及通过调节非共价相互作用来优化自我修复的稳定性，从而实现这一理解。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。

With support from the Chemical Catalysis Program of the Chemistry Division, Dr. Anna Wuttig of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago is developing a new class of electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) that are self-healing by design. The research goal is to access durable energy conversion devices, namely fuel cells, by targeting a platform based on non-covalent interactions to produce self-assembled electrocatalysts for the ORR. Advances in energy conversion and storage science hinge on the development of new strategies for electrocatalysis. Dr. Wuttig and her team members have developed a synergistic education plan to broaden the participation in electrochemistry at the undergraduate and high school levels by building electrochemistry lab-based modules designed to meet student working levels in chemistry and physics. To produce stable and self-healing ORR electrocatalysts, the Wuttig group approach merges the organic and inorganic synthesis of amphiphiles with in-situ non-covalent self-assembly of the electrocatalyst at polarized electrodes. By advancing this non-covalent synthetic technology, this research aims to (i) generate a new series of self-assembled ORR electrocatalysts containing first-row transition metals and (ii) carry out structure-function relationship studies to reveal the key structural features that are necessary for self-healing and thereby durable ORR catalysis. The Wuttig research team will work to achieve this understanding by characterizing non-covalent layer dynamics and thickness of model (noncatalytic) self-assembled layers, synthesizing self-assembled layers that contain well-defined first-row transition metal electroactive units and characterizing their ORR activity, and optimizing the stability for self-healing by tuning non-covalent interactions.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.