SusChEM: Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation of Biorenewable Feedstock to Fuels and Chemicals

PI: Jean-Philippe Tessonnier提案号：1512126植物生物质是生产液体运输燃料和化学品的一种丰富、廉价和可再生的原料。生物质向特定生物燃料和化学品的高度选择性化学转化需要催化剂。然而，为了具有成本效益和真正的可持续性，必须开发使用基于地壳中丰富材料的催化剂的生物质转化过程。此外，如果这些新的催化剂可以在电化学过程中使用，联合电催化过程提供了一个全新的途径，可以选择性地将生物质转化为燃料和有用的化学物质，特别是通过一个叫做氢化的过程。该项目将发展对这些反应机制的基本理解，以合理设计更有效和选择性的生物质转化过程。该计划提供的教育活动侧重于开发一系列关于可再生能源和纳米技术的短片，主要针对初中和高中教师，因为他们处于独特的地位，可以激发大量学生对科学的兴奋和好奇心。本研究的目的是探索新的电催化剂和电催化途径，在水相反应介质中，在室温下将生物可再生分子氢化成生物燃料和化学物质。合理设计基于非贵金属的双金属催化剂，抑制纳米结构碳电极上的析氢反应，以提高催化剂表面的氢可用性。拟议的研究将寻求对各种生物可再生来源的化合物，特别是乙酰丙酸和乙酸，在环境条件下在水中的C=C和C=O键的电催化加氢的基本理解。这些信息将用于合理设计电催化剂，提高可扩展电解反应器中对目标产物的活性和选择性。该研究的跨学科性质将为研究生和本科生提供电化学工程、催化反应、生物可再生能源和生物燃料方面的培训。外联活动包括K-12教师的专业发展，并将他们的研究经验转化到他们的课程和课堂中，这将包括制作关于能源、气候变化、可再生能源和纳米技术等广泛挑战的短视频。

PI: Jean-Philippe Tessonnier Proposal Number: 1512126Plant biomass represents an abundant, cheap, and renewable feedstock for the production of liquid transportation fuels and chemicals. The highly selective chemical conversion of biomass to specific biofuels and chemicals requires catalysts. However, to be cost-effective and truly sustainable, biomass conversion processes that use catalysts based on materials abundant in the Earths crust must be developed. Furthermore, if these new catalysts can be used within an electrochemical process, the combined electrocatalytic process offers a whole new route to selectively tailor the conversion of biomass into fuels and useful chemicals, particularly through a process called hydrogenation. This project will develop a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms involved in these reactions to rationally design more efficient and selective biomass conversion processes. Educational activities offered by the project focus on the development of a series of short videos on renewables and nanotechnology that primarily targets middle and high school teachers, as they are in a unique position to generate excitement and curiosity for science in a large body of students.The goal of this research is to explore new electrocatalysts and electrocatalytic pathways to hydrogenate biorenewable molecules into biofuels and chemicals in aqueous phase reaction medium at ambient temperatures. Bimetallic catalysts based on non-noble metals will be rationally designed to suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction on nanostructured carbon electrodes in order to increase hydrogen availability on the catalyst surface. The proposed research will seek to gain fundamental understanding of the electrocatalytic hydrogenation of C=C and C=O bonds in various compounds derived from biorenewable sources, particularly levulinic and muconic acid, in water under ambient conditions. This information will be then used to rationally design electrocatalysts with improved activity and selectivity towards target products in scalable electrolysis reactors. The interdisciplinary nature of this research will provide students at the graduate and undergraduate levels with training in electrochemical engineering, catalytic reactions, biorenewables, and biofuels. Outreach activities involve the professional development of K-12 teachers and the translation of their research experience into their curricula and classrooms, which will involve the development of short videos on broad challenges in energy, climate change, renewables, and nanotechnology.