Atomic-scale alloys as energy- and cost-efficient catalysts for fuels and chemicals production

了解一些小分子在催化相关表面上的分子尺度吸附和解离行为对于设计更好的工作催化剂是至关重要的。因此，可能会开发出更高效、更低成本的燃料和化学品生产工艺。Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos教授、Georgios Kyriakou教授和Charles Sykes教授在马萨诸塞州梅德福德的塔夫茨大学组成了一个团队，该团队将利用他们在多相催化和表面科学方面的专业知识来确定导致单原子合金增强催化活性和高选择性的因素，特别是针对小分子激活。他们的目标是开发材料和方法，使这些催化剂在学术、技术和工业上能够广泛应用于多相加氢。方法是利用少数金属组分，如Pd，在另一种金属如铜中以孤立原子的形式存在，使前者对后者具有不同的催化性能。在这个例子中，Pd原子可以用来解离H2分子，并将原子氢溢出到宿主金属。因此，Pd原子作为H原子到铜表面的通道，现在可以促进与气态H2的加氢反应，这在以前的文献中是不可能发生的。这种新颖的催化剂体系不仅降低了铜催化剂上的氢活化所需的较高温度，从而减少了产品中的废热，而且还允许在较低的温度下进行更有选择性的加氢，而不会在纯金属上观察到分解。除了这些好处，合金颗粒中昂贵的活性元素被原子分散，应该会极大地降低催化剂材料的成本。该项目的跨学科性质将明显影响塔夫茨大学研究生和研究生的教育。该项目计划对布鲁克海文国家实验室的年轻研究人员进行广泛的培训。相当多的女学生组成了独立独立调查小组和联合独立独立调查小组，她们将参加该项目的某些方面，而塔夫茨大学本科生暑期奖学金计划将用于招募其他代表性不足的小组。为了增加传播，纳米催化和能源实验室和表面科学赛克斯实验室的现有网站将增加关于该项目的视频剪辑和相关信息材料，以促进这项工作作为教育资源和招聘工具。

Understanding the molecular-scale adsorption and dissociation behavior of a number of small molecules on catalytically relevant surfaces is crucial for the design of better working catalysts. More efficient, low-cost processes for the production of fuels and chemicals may be developed as a result. Professors Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos, Georgios Kyriakou and Charles Sykes form a team at Tufts University, Medford, MA which is receiving an award to utilize their expertise in heterogeneous catalysis and surface science to identify the factors that lead to enhanced catalytic activity and high selectivity of single-atom alloys, particularly aimed at small molecule activations. Their aim is to develop materials and methodologies that will enable wide ranging academic, technical and industrial applications of these catalysts for heterogeneous hydrogenations. The approach is to use a minority metal component such as Pd present as isolated atoms in another metal like Cu, such that the former induces different catalytic properties on the latter. In this example, the Pd atoms can serve to dissociate H2 molecules, and spill over atomic hydrogen to the host metal. Hence the Pd atoms serve as conduits of H atoms to the Cu surface which can now facilitate hydrogenation reactions with gaseous H2, reactions which have been impossible in the previous literature. This novel catalyst system not only reduces the higher temperatures typically required to activate H2 on Cu catalysts and hence reduces waste heat in products but also allows for more selective hydrogenations to proceed at lower temperatures without decomposition observed on the pure metals. In addition to these benefits, alloy particles in which the expensive, active element is atomically dispersed should dramatically reduce the cost of the catalyst materials.The interdisciplinary nature of the project will clearly impact the education of graduate students and postgraduate fellows at Tufts. Extensive training of young researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory is planned in the project. A significant number of women students comprise the PI and co-PIs groups, and they will participate in some aspects of the project, while the Tufts summer scholars program for undergraduates will be used to recruit other under- represented groups. To increase dissemination, existing websites of the Nano Catalysis and Energy lab and the Surface Science Sykes lab will add video clips and relevant information material on this project to promote this work both as an educational resource and a recruiting tool.