Nanoengineered Materials for Clean Catalytic Technologies

催化作用是地球上生命的核心，为我们的家园提供动力，为我们的餐桌提供食物。然而，我们将单个原子和分子转化为新的药物、燃料和肥料的能力在很大程度上依赖于辉煌的科学和偶然发现的同等结合。这反映了反应分子和产物之间复杂的相互作用，它们周围的环境，当然还有催化剂本身，在理想情况下，在数千个反应循环中保持不变。化学合成和分析的最新进展现在提供了一个前所未有的机会来雕刻固体催化剂的原子结构，并窥视其微观工作。在接下来的五年里，我建议将这些新的实验和理论突破与我自己在催化剂设计和测试方面的专业知识结合起来，开发新一代纳米工程材料，用于清洁生产有价值的化学原料和可持续的生物燃料。与无机固体化学、纳米成像和计算机建模领域的世界领导者建立的新的合作关系，将帮助我发展多学科技能，以实现我对固体催化剂的愿景，“按需”定制，为未来十年造福社会的高效清洁技术。

Catalysis lies at the heart of life on earth, powers our homes and puts food on our tables. However to a large degree our ability to transform individual atoms and molecules into new pharmaceutical medicines, fuels, and fertilisers has depended upon an equal combination of brilliant science and serendipitous discoveries. This reflects the complex interactions between reacting molecules and products, their surrounding environment, and of course the catalyst itself, which ideally remains unchanged over thousands of reaction cycles. Recent advances in chemical synthesis and analysis now offer an unprecedented opportunity to sculpt the atomic structure of solid catalysts and to peer inside their microscopic workings.Over the next five years, I propose to integrate these new experimental and theoretical breakthroughs with my own expertise in catalyst design and testing, to develop a new generation of nanoengineered materials for the clean production of valuable chemical feedstocks and sustainable biofuels. New collaborations, forged with world leaders in the areas of inorganic solid-state chemistry, nanoscale imaging and computer modelling, will help me to develop the multidisciplinary skillsets needed to achieve my vision of solid catalysts, tailored 'on demand', for efficient clean technologies that will benefit society over the coming decade.