An Electrical Transport Spectroscopy (ETS) Approach for in situ Probing Electrochemical Interfaces

在这个由化学系化学测量和成像项目资助的项目中，加州洛杉矶大学的黄宇教授正在建立一种电传输光谱（ETS）测量方法，用于在电催化反应中原位探测金属纳米材料的电化学表面。他们的研究可以为不同电催化剂的结构/组成/化学特征与其电催化性能之间的相关性提供新的基本见解，从而开发新一代高效稳定的电催化剂，用于各种能源技术和提高能源效率，包括燃料电池，电池和其他重要的电化学和光化学过程。研究方案将积极招募女生和代表性不足群体的学生参加拟议的研究。黄教授将继续透过现有的学校课程，为本地及全国的高中生设计科学项目及提供研究机会。黄教授的研究小组将利用一个特别设计的基于金属纳米线的器件结构和电子测量配置，进行金属纳米线的原位电输运测量，同时进行器件内循环伏安法。该方法利用表面吸附诱导的扩散散射产生电子信号传导途径，用于在不同电化学条件下原位监测金属纳米结构和电解质之间的电化学界面。在对超细铂纳米线（PtNWs）模型系统进行初步验证后，他们将对广泛的纳米电催化剂进行系统研究，用于基本和/或实际重要的电化学过程。

In this project funded by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Yu Huang of the University of California Los Angeles is establishing an electrical transport spectroscopy (ETS) measurement approach for in situ probing electrochemical surface of metallic nanomaterials during electrocatalytic reactions. Their study can offer new fundamental insights on the correlation between the structural/compositional/chemical characteristics of diverse electrocatalysts with their electrocatalytic performance, leading to the development of a new generation of highly efficient and stable electrocatalysts for diverse energy technologies and improved energy efficiency, including fuel cells, batteries, and other important electrochemical and photochemical processes. The research program will actively recruit female students and students from underrepresented groups to participate in the proposed research. Through existing school programs, Professor Huang will continue to design science projects and offer research opportunities for local and national high school students.With a specially designed device structure based on metallic nanowires and electronic measurement configuration, Professor Huang's group will conduct in situ electrical transport measurement of the metallic nanowires, simultaneously with in-device cyclic voltammetry. This method exploits the surface-adsorption induced diffusive scattering to produce an electronic signaling pathway for in situ monitoring of the electrochemical interfaces between the metallic nanostructures and electrolyte under different electrochemical conditions. After initial validation on the ultra-fine platinum nanowires (PtNWs) model system they will conduct systematic investigations of a wide range of nano-electrocatalysts for fundamentally and/or practically important electrochemical processes.