CAREER: Chiral Ceramic Sensors

具体：各种技术（例如燃料电池、催化、传感器）依赖于在陶瓷表面和界面处发生的电/化学现象。然而，我们对这些界面的总体理解还不成熟，因为我们通常缺乏机械和预测性的结构-性质关系。这项研究的最终目标是推进这种关系的表面特性的传感器和催化剂应用的基础。它将在开发一类新的金属氧化物气体传感器的框架内进行处理，基于手性（手）表面，能够检测和区分手性分子。因此，基本的实验目标是发展一个有机分子和手性氧化物表面之间的相互作用的机械理解。这将包括在原子尺度上是手性的表面，例如Mo 8 O23（010），以及那些被定制为具有手性纳米/微米结构的表面。将通过模型传感器和程序升温脱附光谱的制造和测试来研究表面特性，同时将使用适当的探针来询问表面和本体结构。这项研究将推进我们对表面和分子结构在氧化物反应性（即表面结构-性质关系）中所起作用的一般理解，以及新的强大的传感器功能。补充教育和外联活动包括：（1.）与中学科学教师合作，开发以电化学技术为中心的多媒体课程模块，以加强初中/高中科学课程，提高学生对材料科学的认识，（2）与当地社区学院建立外展计划，为来自代表性不足群体的学生提供研究和指导机会，以及（3）一个推广计划，旨在使PI的研究目标与行业的需求保持一致，并增强他作为研究人员和教育工作者的发展。这将包括对专注于电化学和界面技术的工业和政府实验室（美国和国外）的长期访问。概述：金属氧化物具有独特的表面性质，可用于检测，合成和净化化学品和我们的环境。传感器的应用包括检测毒物（如一氧化碳）和监测汽车中的燃料混合物，以最大限度地减少温室气体排放。金属氧化物催化剂对于塑料和药品的大规模生产至关重要，可用于净化我们的空气和水。虽然金属氧化物的表面性质已经被大规模地开发，但我们对这些性质的整体理解是有限的，特别是我们设计和预测它们的能力。因此，我们经常依赖于耗时且昂贵的试错法开发。因此，本研究的最终目标是推进我们对金属氧化物表面的结构和化学性质的基本理解。所获得的知识将导致强大的新型传感器，更重要的是，提高我们的能力，有效地工程金属氧化物表面的各种应用。在进行这项研究的同时，PI将开展一些教育和推广活动，旨在（1.）加强中学和大学的科学教育;（2）招收材料和电化学科学重要领域的新生，以及（3）作为一名教育者和研究者，加强PI自身的发展。

Specific: A variety of technologies (e.g. fuel cells, catalysis, sensors) rely on electro/chemical phenomena that occur at ceramic surfaces and interfaces. Our overall understanding of these interfaces is however immature, in that we generally lack mechanistic and predictive structure-property relations. The ultimate goal of this research is to advance such relations for the surface properties that are the basis of sensor and catalyst applications. It will be approached within the framework of developing a new class of metal oxide gas sensors, based on chiral (handed) surfaces, capable of detecting and differentiating chiral molecules. Hence, the underlying experimental objective is to develop a mechanistic understanding of the interactions between organic molecules and chiral oxide surfaces. This will include surfaces that are chiral on the atomic scale, e.g. Mo8O23(010), and those that are tailored to have chiral nano/microstructures. Surface properties will be investigated through the fabrication and testing of model sensors and temperature programmed desorption spectroscopy, while surface and bulk structure will be interrogated using appropriate probes. This study will advance our general understanding of the roles surface and molecular structure play in oxide reactivity (i.e. surface structure-property relations) as well as new and powerful sensor functionalities. Complementary education and outreach activities include, (1.) the development, in collaboration with secondary science instructors, of multimedia course modules centered on electrochemical technologies that will enhance middle/high school science curricula and raise students' awareness of materials science, (2.) the establishment of an outreach program with a local community college to provide research and mentoring opportunities to students from underrepresented groups, and (3.) an outreach program designed to align the PI's research goals with the needs of industry and augment his development as a researcher and educator. This will include extended visits to industrial and government laboratories (U.S. and abroad) focused on electrochemical and interfacial technologies.General: Metal oxides have unique surface properties that make them useful for detecting, synthesizing, and purifying chemicals and our environment. Sensory applications include detecting poisons (such as carbon monoxide) and monitoring the fuel mix in automobiles to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Metal oxide catalysts are vital to the large-scale production of plastics and pharmaceuticals and can be used to purify our air and water. While the surface properties of metal oxides are already exploited on large and diverse scales, our overall understanding of these properties is limited, particularly our ability to engineer and predict them. As a result, we often rely on time consuming and costly trial-and-error methods of development. Hence, the ultimate goal of this research is to advance our fundamental understanding of the structure and chemical properties of metal oxide surfaces. The knowledge gained will lead to powerful new types of sensors and, more importantly, enhance our ability to efficiently engineer metal oxide surfaces for a variety of applications. Concurrent with this research, the PI will conduct a number of education and outreach activities intended to (1.) enhance science education at the secondary and undergraduate levels, (2.) recruit new students to the vital fields of materials and electrochemical sciences, and (3.) augment the PI's own development as an educator and researcher.