Scale-up of nanostructured electrocatalyst and nanofluid synthesis process

这项拨款提案旨在整合和扩大有前途的纳米材料合成和纳米结构制造方法，以支持绿色技术的发展。麦吉尔大学等离子体处理实验室（PPL）和电化学/腐蚀实验室的研究人员开发了一系列工艺，合成了新的纳米结构电催化剂，用于从水和二氧化碳（CO2）中生产燃料（氢、乙醇、甲醇）、储能材料（电化学超级电容器）以及纳米流体（稳定的胶体悬浮液），用于强化传热/传质、天然气水合物形成/抑制、CO2封存、以及太阳能热能收集。实际应用（用于燃料生产的电催化剂、用于二氧化碳吸收和太阳能热能收集的纳米流体）所需的大表面积和体积超出了PPL目前的纳米流体生产能力。如果获得批准，NSERC申请的资金将用于证明关键的单一合成过程和实验室开发的协议可以结合起来，并且整个过程可以扩大（~25倍）。这些资金还将允许进一步我们的表征工作和生产的纳米材料的性能评估。这项科学和工程工作对于准备技术和设备以便最终将技术转让给工业实体是必不可少的。

This grant proposal aims the integration and scale-up of promising nanomaterial synthesis and nanostructure fabrication approaches in support of green technology developments. Researchers of the Plasma Processing Laboratory (PPL) and Electrochemistry/Corrosion Laboratory of McGill University have developed a series of processes to synthesize new nanostructured electrocatalysts for fuel production (hydrogen, ethanol, methanol) from water and carbon dioxide (CO2), energy-storage materials (electrochemical supercapacitors) as well as nanofluids (stable colloidal suspensions) for heat/mass transfer intensification, gas hydrate formation/inhibition, CO2 sequestration, and solar thermal energy harvesting. The large surface areas and volumes required for real applications (electrocatalysts for fuel production, nanofluids for CO2 absorption and solar thermal energy harvesting) are beyond the current nanofluid production capability of the PPL. If granted, the funds requested from NSERC will be used to demonstrate that the key unitary synthesis processes and protocols developed in the laboratory can be combined and that the overall process can be scaled-up (~25X). The funds will also permit to further our characterization work and performance evaluation of the produced nanomaterials. This scientific and engineering work is essential to prepare the technology and equipment for an eventual transfer of the technology to an industrial entity.