EAGER: Drastic Enhancement of the Electrocatalytic Activity of Metal Nanoparticles in Oxygen Reduction by Organic Capping Ligands

技术优势随着化石燃料能源的问题，开发可行的技术来有效利用可重复使用的绿色能源是很重要的。燃料电池代表了一种强大的替代方案，代表了一种独特的技术，它将通过将储存在小有机分子燃料中的化学能转化为电能，为我们的能源需求做出重大贡献，更重要的是，对环境产生最小的负面影响。然而，尽管近年来取得了巨大的进步，但燃料电池的广泛商业化仍然存在一些挑战。其中之一是需要为阳极和阴极反应开发有效的催化剂，以达到实际应用所需的电流密度。为了寻找氧还原反应（ORR）的有效电催化剂，以往的研究主要集中在贵金属纳米颗粒的结构特征（如大小、形状、元素组成等）上。加州大学圣克鲁兹分校的陈少伟教授认为，有一种替代催化剂很有前景。他认为ORR可能被纳米颗粒的有机盖层配体操纵和优化，这在很大程度上被忽视和未被探索。事实上，传统观点认为纳米颗粒催化剂应该没有有机钝化层。陈?最近的研究表明，纳米颗粒的电催化活性实际上可以通过与选定的有机配体进行有意的化学功能化而大大增强，尽管纳米颗粒的部分表面被有机配体覆盖。该EAGER奖项旨在继续探索这一令人兴奋的新研究领域，包括进一步和更详细的研究，以建立一个基本框架，研究金属-碳共价键功能化的金属纳米颗粒对很大程度上未知的性能影响。更广泛的影响燃料电池技术的突破预计将影响我们生活的许多方面，并使整个社会受益。这是一种相对新颖的方法来制备金属-碳共价键稳定的金属纳米颗粒，并具有独特的芳香衍生物，并研究它们作为燃料电池阴极上一个关键过程氧电还原的有效和可行的催化剂的应用。性能的改进可能最终使燃料电池作为能源进入实际应用。这些研究活动将与该校针对少数民族、女性和弱势本科生的各种教育外展项目（例如，UC LEADS、ACCESS和SURF项目）以及针对有才华的高中生的UCSC COSMOS暑期学校紧密结合。这些研究实习为学生提供了一个宝贵的平台，让他们获得在传统课堂上无法获得的技能。

Technical MeritsWith the issues surrounding fossil fuel energy, it is important to develop viable technologies for the efficient utilization of reusable and green energy sources. Fuel cells represent a powerful alternative, representing a unique technology that will make substantial contributions to our energy needs by converting the chemical energy stored in small organic molecule fuels into electricity, and more importantly, exert minimal negative impacts on the environments. Yet, despite tremendous progress in recent years, there remain several challenges in the wide-spread commercialization of fuel cells. One of these entails the development of effective catalysts for both the anodic and cathodic reactions so as to achieve the current density that is needed for practical applications.In the search for effective electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), prior research has mostly focused on the structural characteristics of noble metal nanoparticles (e.g., size, shape, elemental composition, etc.). Professor Shaowei Chen of the University of California-Santa Cruz, believes there is an alternative catalyst type that has promise. He believes that ORR may be manipulated and optimized by the organic capping ligands for the nanoparticles, which have been largely ignored and unexplored. In fact, conventionalwisdom dictates that nanoparticle catalysts should be free of organic passivating layers. Chen?s recent studies show that the nanoparticle electrocatalytic activity may actually bedrastically enhanced by deliberate chemical functionalization with selected organic ligands,despite the fact that part of the nanoparticle surface is covered with the organic ligands. This EAGER award is to continue the exploration of this exciting new area of research, includingfurther and more detailed studies to establish a fundamental framework for the largely unknown performance impact of metal nanoparticles functionalized with metal-carbon covalent linkages.Broader ImpactsBreakthroughs in fuel cell technology are anticipated to affect many aspects of our lives and tobenefit the society as a whole. This is a relatively novel approach to prepare metal nanoparticlesstabilized by metal-carbon covalent bonds with unique aromatic derivatives and to examinetheir applications as effective and viable catalysts for the electroreduction of oxygen, a criticalprocess at fuel cell cathode. Improved performance may ultimately bring fuel cells into practical reality as energy sources. The research activities will be closely integrated with various educational outreach programs at the university (e.g., the UC LEADS, ACCESS, and SURF programs) that target minority, women, and disadvantaged undergraduate students, as well as the UCSC COSMOS summer school for talented high-school students. These research internships provide a valuable platform for the students to acquire skills that are unattainable in a conventional classroom.