Development of Ordered Nanostructures for Electrocatalytic and Sensor Applications

这项研究计划的重点是开发具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，其中一个重要的子目标是以高度组织的方式制造这些，使得它们的特性可以被更好地利用并且也更容易地评估。特别强调的是燃料电池，这是清洁和有效地将燃料和氧气转化为电力，热量和纯水的设备，而无需燃烧。在我们工作的一个分支中，我们开发了一些具有高度有序的纳米尺寸孔的新型高表面积碳材料（CIC），旨在锚催化铂纳米颗粒（Pt NPs）用于将氧转化为水。 然而，这些孔还必须包含质子传导聚合物以便在燃料电池中起作用，因此我们工作的关键目标是调整CIC孔径和深度，使得聚合物和Pt NP都将在这些孔内渗透并正常起作用。 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，然后将它们用作新型Pt NP载体，可能会在以后取代碳载体，碳载体可能会随着时间的推移而不稳定。 我们还将首次采用强大的电子显微镜方法来确定金属颗粒（也是燃料电池催化剂）如何放置在这些有组织的纳米管中，聚集或分离，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“纳米凹坑”表面上产生高度有序的金属纳米颗粒阵列，我们现在可以使用这些模板来确定纳米颗粒组成和尺寸对各种催化反应的影响。 最后，我们将进一步为糖尿病患者开发非常有前途的连续血糖传感器，使我们的传感器更具可重复性和可靠性，再次通过订购其3D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.