SusChEM: Tunable Molecular Mimics for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Production

在这项由化学系化学催化计划资助的项目中，俄亥俄州立大学的吴一英教授正在开发用于制氢的分子催化剂。开发坚固的非贵金属催化剂作为昂贵和稀有的铂的替代品，对于利用太阳的能量将水分解成元素氢和氧至关重要。水的分解使来自太阳的能量能够以化学形式储存。当这些元素重新组合形成水时，能量就会释放出来。为了应对高效分解水的挑战，人们开发了新的良性合成方法，以形成基于稀土丰富元素的新催化剂。新的催化剂对理解和模拟一些生物酶也很有用。该项目对可持续的能源生产、储存和化学过程具有社会影响。这项研究的更广泛的影响包括教育内容、社区推广和参与，以及本科生的指导。结合OSU加强学习的研究经验，其中一个教育部分是在合成和均相电催化的基础上，为本科生无机化学实验室创建一个真实的研究实验。该项目重点研究基于硫化钼(MoS2)分子和聚合物络合物(MoS2)的新型环境友好型催化剂-特别是模仿MoS2边缘中心用于电催化制氢。各种催化剂结构正在被合成和检验。通过同步辐射X射线吸收光谱等实验方法和密度泛函理论(DFT)等计算方法相结合的方法对催化机理进行了探讨。这种系统的、协同的合成和机理研究可能有助于揭示分子催化剂的结构与其电催化活性之间的关系。机理知识也提供了对大宗MoS2和生物酶功能的洞察。

In this project funded by the Chemical Catalysis program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Yiying Wu of the Ohio State University is developing molecular catalysts for hydrogen production. Developing robust and non-precious metal catalysts as alternatives to expensive and rare platinum is critical for splitting water into its elements - hydrogen and oxygen - using the energy of the sun. Water splitting allows energy from the sun to be stored in chemical form. When these elements are recombined to form water, energy is released. To meet the challenge of splitting water efficiently, new benign synthetic methods are developed to form new catalysts based on earth abundant elements. The new catalysts are also useful in understanding and mimicking some biological enzymes. This project has societal impact on sustainable energy generation, storage, and chemical processes. The broader impact of this research comprises educational components, community outreach and engagement, along with undergraduate student mentorship. In conjunction with the Research Experiences to Enhance Learning efforts at OSU, one of the educational components is to create an authentic research experiment for the undergraduate Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory based on the synthesis and homogeneous electrocatalysis.This project focuses on new environmentally benign catalysts based on molecular and polymeric complexes of molybdenum sulfide (MoS2)- specifically mimicking the MoS2 edge sites for electrocatalytic hydrogen production. Various catalyst structures are being synthesized and examined. The catalytic mechanism is probed by combining experimental methods such as synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy with computational efforts such as density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This systematic and synergistic synthetic and mechanistic study may shed light on the relationship between the structures of the molecular catalysts and their electrocatalytic activities. The mechanistic knowledge also provides insight into the functions of bulk MoS2 and biological enzymes.