SBIR Phase II: Combinatorial Synthesis of Electrocatalysts for Ozone Production

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目描述了一种创新的组合方法，用于发现电化学臭氧生成的新电催化剂。臭氧越来越多地用于水处理，作为食品工业的消毒剂，比氯及其衍生物更受欢迎。电化学臭氧生成，其中臭氧是通过电解水产生的，与传统的放电臭氧生成方法相比，可能具有几个成本和工艺优势。然而，现有的电化学生成臭氧的方法使用电极，这提供了低法拉第（即电流）效率和有限的材料稳定性。在第一阶段，使用组合方法筛选臭氧电催化剂，并确定了两种新的臭氧形成电催化剂。还设计了一种新的快速筛选方法，并将用于评估II期聚焦组合阵列。第二阶段将使用第一阶段首创的技术确定新型臭氧电催化剂的精确化学计量，然后在宏观尺度上合成催化剂，并以现有臭氧电催化剂为基准在臭氧细胞中进行评估。在这个项目中确定的催化剂将使臭氧的产生更具成本效益，并应用于城市水处理、入口和使用点水处理、食品卫生、医疗废物处理和医疗消毒。臭氧也可用于化学工业，在各种过程中替代氯，例如纸张和纸浆漂白。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project describes an innovative combinatorial approach to the discovery of new electrocatalysts for electrochemical ozone generation. Ozone is increasingly being used in water treatment, as a sanitizing agent in the food industry and is preferred over chlorine and its derivatives. Electrochemical ozone generation, where ozone is generated by electrolysis of water, can potentially offer several cost and process advantages over the conventional electrical discharge methods of ozone generation. However, existing methods for generating ozone electrochemically use electrodes, which offer low Faradaic (i.e., current) efficiencies and have limited materials stability. In Phase I, ozone electrocatalysts were screened using a combinatorial approach, and two novel electrocatalysts for ozone formation were identified. A new rapid screening approach was also devised and will be used to evaluate focussed combinatorial arrays in Phase II. Phase II will identify the precise stoichiometries of the new ozone electrocatalysts using the techniques pioneered in Phase I. The catalysts will then be synthesized on a macro scale and evaluated in ozone cells using existing ozone electrocatalysts as a benchmark. The catalysts identified during this project will enable a more cost-effective generation of ozone with applications in municipal water treatment, point-of-entry and point-of-use water treatment, food sanitation, medical waste treatment and medical sterilization. Ozone could also be utilized in the chemical industry as a replacement for chlorine in a variety of processes, e.g. paper and pulp bleaching.