Development of Ordered Nanostructures for Electrocatalytic and Sensor Applications

这项研究计划的重点是开发具有许多有用应用的新材料，包括在清洁能源转换(如燃料电池、电解)和存储(电容器)技术以及传感器方面，一个重要的子目标是以高度有序的方式制造这些材料，以便更好地利用它们的性能，也更容易评估它们的性能。特别强调的是燃料电池，这是一种无需燃烧就能清洁、高效地将燃料和氧气转化为电能、热量和纯净水的装置。在我们工作的一个分支中，我们开发了一些新型的高比表面积碳材料(CIC)，具有高度有序的纳米大小的孔，旨在锚定催化铂纳米颗粒(铂纳米颗粒)，用于将氧气转化为水。然而，这些孔还必须含有质子导电聚合物才能在燃料电池中发挥作用，因此我们工作的一个关键目标是调整CIC孔的直径和深度，以便聚合物和铂纳米粒子都能在这些孔中正常穿透和发挥作用。在其他燃料电池研究中，我们将把独特的金属氧化物纳米管阵列转化为导电形式，然后将它们用作新型的铂纳米颗粒载体，以后可能会取代碳载体，后者可能随着时间的推移而不稳定。我们还将使用强大的电子显微镜方法，首次确定放置在这些有序纳米管中的金属颗粒(也包括燃料电池催化剂)是如何聚集或分离的，这对燃料电池的耐用性至关重要。我们最近还发现了一种简单且低成本的方法，可以在光滑的纳米凹陷表面上制备高度有序的金属纳米颗粒阵列，现在我们将能够使用这些模板来确定纳米颗粒的组成和尺寸对各种催化反应的影响。最后，我们将通过对传感器的三维结构进行排序，使我们的传感器更具重复性和可靠性，从而进一步开发我们非常有前途的糖尿病患者连续血糖传感器。除了在我们的研究中使用世界上最先进的仪器和工具外，这些项目还将在这些对世界至关重要的领域培训10-15名学生。

This research proposal is focused on the development of new materials that have many useful applications, including in clean energy conversion (e.g., fuel cells, electrolysis) and storage (capacitors) technology, as well as in sensors, with an important sub-goal being to fabricate these in a highly organized fashion so that their properties can be better exploited and also more easily evaluated. Special emphasis is on fuel cells, which are devices that cleanly and efficiently convert fuel and oxygen to electricity, heat, and pure water, without combustion. In one branch of our work, we have developed some novel, high surface area carbon materials (CICs) with highly ordered, nano-sized pores, intended to anchor catalytic platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs) for the conversion of oxygen to water. However, these pores must also contain a proton-conducting polymer in order to function in a fuel cell, and thus a key objective of our work is to tune the CIC pore diameter and depth so that both the polymer and the Pt NPs will penetrate and function properly within these pores. In other fuel cell research, we will convert unique metal oxide nanotube arrays to a conducting form and then use them as novel Pt NP supports, potentially later replacing carbon supports, which can be unstable with time. We will also employ powerful electron microscopy methods to determine, for the first time, how metal particles (also fuel cell catalysts), placed inside these organized nanotubes, agglomerate or detach, of critical importance to fuel cell durability. We have also recently discovered a simple and low cost method to produce a highly ordered array of metal NPs on smooth, 'nano-dimpled' surfaces and we will now be able to use these templates to determine the effect of NP composition and size on various catalytic reactions. Finally, we will further develop our very promising continuous blood glucose sensor for individuals with diabetes by making our sensors more reproducible and reliable, again by ordering their 3-D structures. In addition to employing the most advanced instruments and tools available in the world in our research, these projects will serve to train 10-15 students in these areas of critical importance to the world.