Development of Ordered Nanostructures for Electrocatalytic and Sensor Applications

这项研究计划的重点是开发有许多有用应用的新材料，包括清洁能源转换（例如，燃料电池，电解）和存储（电容器）技术，以及传感器，一个重要的子目标是以高度有组织的方式制造这些材料，以便更好地利用它们的特性，也更容易评估。特别强调的是燃料电池，这是一种清洁有效地将燃料和氧气转化为电、热和纯水的设备，不需要燃烧。在我们工作的一个分支中，我们开发了一些新颖的高表面积碳材料（CICs），具有高度有序的纳米级孔隙，旨在锚定催化铂纳米颗粒（Pt NPs），用于将氧转化为水。然而，为了在燃料电池中发挥作用，这些孔隙还必须包含质子传导聚合物，因此我们工作的一个关键目标是调整CIC的孔径和深度，以便聚合物和Pt NPs都能在这些孔隙中穿透并正常发挥作用。在其他燃料电池研究中，我们将把独特的金属氧化物纳米管阵列转化为导电形式，然后将其用作新型Pt NP支撑，可能在以后取代碳支撑，因为碳支撑会随着时间的推移而不稳定。我们还将使用强大的电子显微镜方法，首次确定金属颗粒（也是燃料电池的催化剂），放置在这些有组织的纳米管中，是如何聚集或分离的，这对燃料电池的耐久性至关重要。我们最近还发现了一种简单而低成本的方法，可以在光滑的“纳米酒窝”表面上生产高度有序的金属NP阵列，我们现在可以使用这些模板来确定NP的组成和大小对各种催化反应的影响。最后，我们将进一步开发我们非常有前途的连续血糖传感器，用于糖尿病患者，通过使我们的传感器更具可重复性和可靠性，再次通过订购它们的三维结构。除了在我们的研究中使用世界上最先进的仪器和工具外，这些项目还将在这些对世界至关重要的领域培养10-15名学生。

This research proposal is focused on the development of new materials that have many useful applications, including in clean energy conversion (e.g., fuel cells, electrolysis) and storage (capacitors) technology, as well as in sensors, with an important sub-goal being to fabricate these in a highly organized fashion so that their properties can be better exploited and also more easily evaluated. Special emphasis is on fuel cells, which are devices that cleanly and efficiently convert fuel and oxygen to electricity, heat, and pure water, without combustion. In one branch of our work, we have developed some novel, high surface area carbon materials (CICs) with highly ordered, nano-sized pores, intended to anchor catalytic platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs) for the conversion of oxygen to water. However, these pores must also contain a proton-conducting polymer in order to function in a fuel cell, and thus a key objective of our work is to tune the CIC pore diameter and depth so that both the polymer and the Pt NPs will penetrate and function properly within these pores. In other fuel cell research, we will convert unique metal oxide nanotube arrays to a conducting form and then use them as novel Pt NP supports, potentially later replacing carbon supports, which can be unstable with time. We will also employ powerful electron microscopy methods to determine, for the first time, how metal particles (also fuel cell catalysts), placed inside these organized nanotubes, agglomerate or detach, of critical importance to fuel cell durability. We have also recently discovered a simple and low cost method to produce a highly ordered array of metal NPs on smooth, 'nano-dimpled' surfaces and we will now be able to use these templates to determine the effect of NP composition and size on various catalytic reactions. Finally, we will further develop our very promising continuous blood glucose sensor for individuals with diabetes by making our sensors more reproducible and reliable, again by ordering their 3-D structures. In addition to employing the most advanced instruments and tools available in the world in our research, these projects will serve to train 10-15 students in these areas of critical importance to the world.