The Mechanistic Study on N-doped Carbon Nanomaterials as Highly Efficient Cathode for Fuel Cells

本项目的目的是研究掺氮碳纳米材料作为燃料电池高性能催化剂的基本催化机理。燃料电池将化学能直接转化为电能，例如，在阳极氧化氢气，在阴极还原氧气。铂阴极上相对缓慢的氧还原反应是限制燃料电池能量转换效率的关键步骤，而铂催化剂的高成本也被证明是大规模燃料电池的主要障碍。该项目将专注于开发新形式的掺氮碳纳米材料，作为低成本、无金属、高效的氧还原催化剂。我们将开发一种独特的方法来实验研究新材料的分子结构和催化活性，并结合对这些结构的原子模拟，将纳米级现象与宏观催化性能联系起来，并评估燃料电池中高效、低成本能量转换的氧还原反应机理。所获得的知识不仅将使人们对氧还原反应的新科学原理有深刻的基本理解，而且将开发/优化用于燃料电池的氮掺杂碳纳米材料，甚至作为燃料电池以外的新催化材料。该项目将在清洁能源转换技术(例如燃料电池、电池、太阳能电池)、化学和材料工程(例如腐蚀、材料合成)以及生物和环境工程(例如生物传感器、化学传感器)领域的广泛应用中开发新的催化材料和能源装置。教育的影响将是创造一个环境，让来自多学科背景的所有级别的学生(研究生、本科生、高中生和代表不足的群体的学生)共同努力，建立一个共同的平台。研究经验将被纳入CWRU(电化学、纳米技术)和Akron(多尺度建模)的跨学科课程。

The objective of this project is to study fundamental catalytic mechanisms of nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials as high-performance catalysts for fuel cells. Fuel cells convert chemical energy directly into electricity by oxidizing, for example, hydrogen gas at the anode and reducing oxygen gas at the cathode. The relatively slow oxygen reduction reaction on the platinum cathode is a key step to limit the energy conversion efficiency of a fuel cell, and the high cost of the platinum catalysts has also been shown to be the major "showstopper" to mass market fuel cells. This project will focus on the development of new forms of nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials as low-cost, metal-free, efficient catalysts for oxygen reduction. A unique approach will be developed to experimentally study the molecular structures and catalytic activities of the new materials, in conjunction with an atomistic modeling of such structures to link the nanoscale phenomena to macroscopic catalytic performance and to evaluate the oxygen reduction reaction mechanism for highly-efficient, low-cost energy conversion in fuel cells.The knowledge acquired will lead to not only a strong fundamental understanding of new scientific principles for the oxygen reduction reaction, but also developing/optimizing the nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials for fuel cell applications, even as new catalytic materials for applications beyond fuel cells. This project will benefit in developing new catalytic materials and energy devices for a broad range of applications in the field of clean energy conversion technologies (e.g. fuel cells, batteries, solar cells), chemical and materials engineering (e.g. corrosion, material synthesis), and biological and environmental engineering (e.g. biosensors, chemical sensors). The education impact will be to create an environment where all-level students (graduate, undergraduate, high school, and students from underrepresented groups) from multidisciplinary background work together on the development of a common platform. The research experience will be incorporated in interdisciplinary classes taught at CWRU (Electrochemistry, Nanotechnology) and Akron (Multiscale Modeling).