Nanoelectrochemistry with Carbon Nanoprobes

纽约市立大学皇后学院的Michael Mirkin教授得到化学系化学结构动力学和机制（CSDM-A）计划的支持，以高空间分辨率可视化和定量测量电化学表面反应性，检测和分析单个生物和人工囊泡。 该项目的统一主题是基于碳纳米电极的独特功能开发电化学反应机理研究的新方法。 它们被用于几个重要的化学和生物系统的定量纳米级研究。 这项工作的更广泛影响包括对纳米尺度上电化学过程的更好理解所带来的潜在社会效益，这可以促进传感器，能量存储和其他技术和生物医学系统的进步。 参与该项目的学生将获得界面电化学、生物分析化学和纳米科学的多学科研究培训，碳纳米电极将被化学修饰并用作扫描电化学显微镜（SECM）尖端，以研究电催化过程，例如通过双电子氧还原反应产生氢和过氧化氢，这些过程无法在裸金属纳米电极上测量。 探测局部非均相反应性的另一种方法是通过测量碳纳米电极和纳米尺寸的电活性物体（例如二维催化纳米片）之间的电子隧穿电流。 碳纳米腔是最近引进的电化学连续脉冲技术，涉及单囊泡过程的机制研究。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Professor Michael Mirkin of CUNY, Queens College, is supported by the Chemical Structure Dynamics and Mechanism (CSDM-A) program of the Division of Chemistry to visualize and quantitatively measure electrochemical surface reactivity with a high spatial resolution, detect and analyze single biological and artificial vesicles. The unifying theme of this project is the development of new methodology for mechanistic studies of electrochemical reactions based on unique capabilities of carbon nano-electrodes. They are employed for quantitative nanoscale studies of several important chemical and biological systems. The broader impacts of this work include potential societal benefits from an improved understanding of electrochemical processes on the nanoscale that can facilitate the progress in sensors, energy storage, and other technological and biomedical systems. The students involved in this project are getting multidisciplinary research training in interfacial electrochemistry, bioanalytical chemistry, and nanoscience.Carbon nanoelectrodes will be chemically modified and used as scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) tips to investigate electrocatalytic processes, such as hydrogen evolution and hydrogen peroxide production via two-electron oxygen reduction reaction that cannot be measured at bare metal nano-electrodes. Another way to probe local heterogeneous reactivity is by measuring electron tunneling current between the carbon nano-electrode and a nanometer-sized electroactive object, such as a two-dimensional catalytic nanoflake. Carbon nanocavities are to be employed for mechanistic studies of processes involving single vesicles by recently introduced electrochemical resistive-pulse technique. The goal is to identify a specific nano-object as the source of an electrochemical signal and then analyze its contents.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.