US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Development of Nanoparticle Catalysts Supported on Graphene for High Activity and Selectivity Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis of Liquid Fuels

该项目支持弗吉尼亚州里士满弗吉尼亚联邦大学的M·萨米·埃尔-希尔博士和埃及亚历山大的埃及-日本科技大学的艾哈迈德·阿卜杜勒-哈米德的合作研究工作。他们计划研究以石墨烯为载体的纳米粒子催化剂的开发，以便在液体燃料的费托合成(FTS)中具有高活性和高选择性。该项目旨在开发一种创新的方法来设计和合成一种新型的以石墨烯纳米片为载体的高效和选择性FTS催化剂。这一研究工作有可能开发出一种新的高活性和选择性的石墨烯负载纳米材料催化剂，用于生产高效和清洁燃烧的液体燃料。这项研究将开发新的概念和工艺，为合成液体燃料和各种有用的有机化合物提供合理的催化剂设计和优化催化剂性能的平台。该项目预计将增强FTS过程和其他相关领域的科学知识，并可能带来新的令人兴奋的技术，将新的石墨烯载体催化剂转化为现实，从而增加能源供应，同时减少全球温室气体排放。成功的结果可能会促使美国和埃及的工业部门为清洁和可持续的能源生产和转换效率作出新的努力。因此，这种合作研究可能会促进两国的经济发展。此外，该项目将在催化、纳米材料合成和表征、表面科学、工业化学和能源转换等多学科交叉研究领域培训初级科学家和学生。该项目将使用纳米催化剂，以促进生物质衍生的气相产品有效和选择性地转化为清洁燃烧的液体燃料(C8-C18正构烷烃)。这一提议的关键创新是将现有的过渡金属纳米催化剂的合成方法与石墨烯的大表面积、独特的电子和缺陷工程性质相结合，这些方法可以控制尺寸和形状。目标是开发一种新型的纳米片状催化剂载体，从而产生用于生产液体燃料的新的高活性和选择性的FT催化剂家族。通过这种新的方法，催化剂-载体相互作用将被量身定做，以生产高效、选择性和可回收的FTS催化剂，用于合成可用作液体燃料的长链烃以及可用于生产各种工业应用的有价值的化学品的含氧烃。这些努力将极大地扩展拟议方法的能力，并将开发一个专注于石墨烯纳米片催化的新的多学科研究领域。该项目由美国-埃及联合科技基金项目资助。这些合作项目的美方支持由美国国务院提供给美国国家科学基金会。埃及政府为埃及方面的合作提供支持。埃及方面。

This project supports a cooperative research effort by Dr. M. Samy El-Shall of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA and Ahmed Abdel-Hamid of the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology in Alexandria, Egypt. They plan to study the development of nanoparticle catalysts supported on graphene for high activity and selectivity in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) of liquid fuels. The project aims to develop an innovative approach to the design and synthesize a new class of efficient and selective FTS catalysts supported on graphene nanosheets. This research effort has the potential to develop a new family of highly active and selective graphene-supported, nanomaterial catalysts for the production of efficient and clean-burning liquid fuels. The research will develop new concepts and processes that will provide a platform for a rational catalyst design and optimized catalyst performance for the synthesis of liquid fuels and a variety of useful organic compounds. The project is expected to enhance the scientific knowledge of the FTS process and other related fields, and it may lead to new exciting technologies that could transform the new graphene-supported catalysts into a practical reality to increase energy supply and reduce worldwide greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. Successful results will likely initiate new efforts involving the industrial sectors in the United States and in Egypt for clean and sustainable energy production and conversion efficiency. Therefore, this cooperative research may lead to economic development in both countries. In addition, the project will train junior scientists and students in the multi-disciplinary cross-cutting research areas of catalysis, nanomaterials synthesis and characterization, surface science, industrial chemistry and energy conversion. This project will use nanocatalysts to promote the efficient and selective conversion of gas phase products derived from biomass into clean burning liquid fuels (C8-C18 n-alkanes). The key innovation in this proposal is the combination of established synthesis methods for transition metal nanocatalysts that control size and shape with the large surface area, unique electronic and defect-engineered properties of graphene. The goal is to develop a novel nanosheet catalyst support that leads to a new family of highly active and selective FT catalysts for the production of liquid fuels. With this new approach, catalyst-support interaction will be tailored to produce highly efficient, selective and recyclable FTS catalysts for the synthesis of long-chain hydrocarbons which can be used as liquid fuels as well as oxygenated hydrocarbons which can be used for the production of valuable chemicals for a variety of industrial applications. The efforts will greatly extend the capabilities of the proposed methods and will develop a new multidisciplinary area of research focused on catalysis on graphene nanosheets. This project is funded through the US-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Fund Program. Support for the U.S. side of these cooperative projects is provided to the National Science Foundation by the U.S. Department of State. The Egyptian Government provides support for the Egyptian side of the collaboration. Egyptian side.