DMREF/Collaborative Research: Designing Tunable Au-Based Bimetallic Nanocatalysts

在这个由化学系通过设计材料革新和设计我们的未来(DMREF)计划资助的项目中，西弗吉尼亚大学的James Lewis教授和卡内基梅隆大学的金荣超教授正在研究如何制造新的、精确定义的金属合金催化剂。化学工业依靠廉价和可重复使用的催化剂将化学原料转化为可行的产品。此外，减少燃烧过程中的有害副产物(例如二氧化碳和一氧化碳)还需要廉价和可重复使用的催化剂，例如汽车催化转化器中的催化剂。直径几纳米的金基催化剂在许多化学转化过程中被证明是非常有效的；然而，它们很昂贵，特别是在黄金价格随着时间的推移继续上涨的情况下。在铜等其他价格较低的金属成分中混合会降低成本，在某些情况下还可能提高活性，但科学上的挑战是确定如何在不损失催化剂效率和稳定性的情况下加入这些金属。正在开发计算搜索算法，以帮助开发金与其他金属混合的催化剂的材料。该研究小组正在全面推进对双金属催化剂结构-功能映射的技术和概念理解。他们正在建立一个指导框架，从基本原理出发设计和开发双金属催化剂，而不是反复试验，方法是将用于测试的潜在纳米颗粒的数量减少到实验上可以控制的数量。拟议的研究将继续影响国家能源技术实验室经验丰富的研究人员目前正在研究的能源技术。就这项拟议研究的更广泛影响而言，目前的跨学科合作将促进区域推广和对学生的教育影响。刘易斯和金将继续在他们的研究项目中吸引代表人数不足的学生群体，他们将继续培养更广泛的参与，为学生的专业准备。

In this project funded by the Division of Chemistry through the Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) Program, Professor James Lewis of West Virginia University and Professor Rongchao Jin of Carnegie-Mellon University are studying how to make new, precisely defined metal alloy catalysts. The chemical industry relies on inexpensive and re-usable catalysts to convert chemical feedstock into viable products. In addition, reducing harmful byproducts in combustion processes (e.g. carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide) also requires inexpensive and re-usable catalysts, such as those found in a catalytic converter of an automobile. Gold-based catalysts at the size of a few nanometers in diameter are proven to be very efficient in many chemically converting processes; however, they are expensive, particularly as the price of gold continues to increase over time. Mixing in other less expensive metal constituents, such as copper, would drive down the cost and possibly increase activity in some cases, but the scientific challenge is to determine how to add in such metals without losing the efficiency and stability of the catalyst. Computational searching algorithms are being developed to assist the materials development of catalysts of gold mixed with other metals. The research team is comprehensively advancing both technical and conceptual understanding of the structure-function mapping in bi-metallic catalysts. They are building a guidance framework to design and develop bimetallic catalysts from first principles rather than trial-and-error by decreasing the number of potential nanoparticles for tests to an experimentally manageable number. The proposed research will continue to impact energy technologies that are currently being pursued by experienced researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. In terms of the broader impacts of this proposed research, the current interdisciplinary collaborations will boost regional outreach and educational impact for students. Lewis and Jin are continuing to engage under-represented student populations in their research programs and they will continue to cultivate broadened participation for student's professional preparations.