Biotechnological production of metal nanoparticles for catalysis

纳米材料以其高比表面积和独特的性质正在给许多科学和技术领域带来革命性的变化。通过生物技术路线生产金属纳米材料的微生物十多年来一直是曼彻斯特迪斯的研究重点，具有广泛的商业潜力。所开发的细菌系统具有可伸缩性、可调性和易于基因操作的特点，因此可以用来容纳重组酶，产生新型的“生物金属催化剂”。这些金属/酶催化剂的开发有可能为新型或更好的催化剂提供新的途径，包括从废物或溶液中获得(使这些废流重新定价)。该项目将研究使用无害的地下金属还原细菌从一系列金属及其双金属组合中生产具有催化活性的纳米颗粒。将采用跨学科的方法，包括微生物操作和高质量的纳米材料表征相结合。与iCASE合作伙伴JM的活动重点将包括检查作为催化剂的产品，但随着项目的进展，将考虑该技术的其他可能应用。因此，学生将获得使用细菌生产纳米粒子的实用知识，一些d-块金属的化学，用于表征纳米材料的技术，以及多相催化。

Nanomaterials, with their high surface areas and unique properties are revolutionising many areas of science and technology. The microbial production of metallic nanomaterials by biotechnological routes has been a focus of research in DEES, Manchester for more than a decade, with wide commercial potential has been demonstrated. The bacterial systems developed are scalable, tunable and amenable to genetic manipulation, and can therefore be used to host recombinant enzymes, producing novel "biometallic catalysts". Development of these metal/enzymatic catalysts has the potential to deliver new routes to novel or better catalysts, including from waste materials or solutions (revalorising these waste streams). This project will examine the use of harmless subsurface metal-reducing bacteria to produce catalytically active nanoparticles from a range of metals and their bimetallic combinations. A cross-disciplinary approach will be adopted, including microbiological manipulations combined with high quality nanomaterial characterisation. The focus of activities with the iCASE partner JM will include examination of the products as catalysts but other possible applications of the technology will be considered as the project progresses. The student will therefore gain practical knowledge of the use of bacteria to produce nanoparticles, the chemistry of a number of d-block metals, techniques used to characterise nanomaterials, and heterogeneous catalysis.