Collaborative Research: Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of Catalysis on Carbon Nanotube Surfaces For Selective Liquid Fuel Generation

由于管状碳纳米材料具有较高的比表面积，研究人员试图通过将各种催化剂颗粒分散在碳纳米纤维/纳米管(CNTS)催化剂载体上来提高这些催化剂颗粒的效率。并没有取得显著的成功。在评估碳纳米管作为Fischer-Tropsch催化剂载体时，南伊利诺伊大学的Pis Kancan Mondal和Saikat Talapatra以及宾夕法尼亚州立大学的Mauricio Terrones观察到，碳纳米管本身的性能比传统催化剂好，表现出比传统催化剂高一个数量级的活性，铁含量少三个数量级。据认为，这是由于碳纳米管合成过程中残留铁的某些独特性，但随后提取残留铁导致活性又提高了一个数量级。这是碳纳米管催化性质的潜在戏剧性变化。这项建议的目的之一是研究碳纳米管本身作为催化剂在多相催化，特别是FT催化中的作用。其他重要的因素，如其弯曲的碳表面(对其附近的吸附气体提供了较高的吸附潜力)、表面缺陷和官能化，对于它们对多相催化的可能贡献，主要被忽略了。PI提出了一系列与碳纳米管催化相关的极好的问题，他们打算解决这些问题，然后创造性地调整合成和处理工艺，以优化碳纳米管的催化性能。这个项目的教育方面很有趣，因为本科生和研究生将接触到关于纳米材料在多相催化中的使用的真正交叉和多学科的研究努力。与可再生燃料和能源的潜在联系是教育经验的额外加分。

Researchers have tried to increase the efficiency of various catalyst particles by dispersing them on carbon nanofiber/nanotube (CNTs) catalyst supports, due to the availability of higher specific surface areas of these tubular carbon nanomaterials. Success has not been notably achieved. In evaluating CNTs as supports for Fischer-Tropsch catalysts, PIs Kanchan Mondal and Saikat Talapatra of Southern Illinois University and Mauricio Terrones of Pennsylvania State University observed that the CNTs themselves perform better than conventional catalysts, exhibiting an order of magnitude more activity with three orders of magnitude less iron content. It was thought that this was due to some uniqueness in the residual iron from the CNT synthesis, but subsequent extraction of the residual Fe resulted in still another order of magnitude improvement in activity. This is a potentially dramatic change in the nature of CNT catalysis. One of the aims of this proposal is to investigate the role of CNTs themselves as catalysts in heterogeneous catalysis, especially FT catalysis. Other significant factors such as their curved carbon surfaces (offering higher adsorption potential to the adsorbate gases near its vicinity), surface defects and functionalization have been primarily over looked as to their possible contribution to heterogeneous catalysis. The PIs propound an excellent series of questions related to catalysis on CNTs that they intend to address, and to then creatively adjust synthesis and treatment processes to optimize the CNT catalytic performance. The educational aspects of this project are interesting in that the undergraduate and graduate students will be exposed to a truly cross-cutting and multi-disciplinary research effort about the use of nanommaterials in heterogeneous catalysis. The potential tie-in to renewable fuels and energy is an added plus in the educational experience.