EAGER: Exploring unique properties of sub-nm metal nanoparticles for photocatalysis

EAGER：探索亚纳米金属纳米颗粒的光催化独特性能

• 批准号: 1152732
• 负责人: Alexander Orlov
• 金额: $ 8.06万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-10-01 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1152732&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Exploring; unique; properties; sub

ABSTRACTProducing hydrogen from water using sunlight and catalysts is a key desirable strategy for solar energy storage and conversion. The process is a form of artificial photosynthesis. Despite significant scientific efforts invested in this field, the quantum efficiency of the water splitting reaction remains low, indicating that new approaches are needed to address this challenging problem. Investigator Alexander Orlov of SUNY at Stony Brook, NY has considered and worked in the area, investigating a series of semiconductor materials, with some success. Summary observations indicate that despite a respectable quantum efficiency of La/KTaO3 and ZnS based catalysts, these materials are only active under UV radiation, which represents only 5% of the solar energy reaching the earths surface. Therefore, the challenge remains to utilize visible light to initiate the water splitting reaction. The best QE for visible light photocatalysis is only 6.5%, which is significantly below the 10% QE necessary to make this technology commercially viable. In order to achieve a scientific breakthrough in this area, it is important to develop new photocatalyst approaches to address this challenging problem. Recently the PI has developed a new procedure for synthesis of sub-1 nm metal nanoclusters containing less than 11 atoms. In preliminary experiments these nanoparticles have exhibited an extraordinary activity in various oxidation reactions as compared to the most active commercially available catalysts. This project will now attempt to explore the reactivity of such particles for the water splitting reaction. The proposed project has a significant potential to develop new catalysts for sustainable energy generation. In addition, it will also have a substantial educational impact, as it will be used to start a new area of environmental research training at the Materials Science and Engineering Department, which will be focused on environmental catalysis and sustainable energy research.

使用阳光和催化剂从水中生产氢是太阳能存储和转化的关键策略。该过程是人造光合作用的一种形式。尽管在这一领域投入了大量的科学努力，但水分分裂反应的量子效率仍然很低，这表明需要新的方法来解决这个具有挑战性的问题。纽约州斯托尼·布鲁克（Stony Brook）的纽约州立大学（SUNY）的研究员亚历山大·奥尔洛夫（Alexander Orlov）在该地区考虑并工作了一系列的半导体材料，并取得了成功。摘要观察结果表明，尽管LA/KTAO3和基于ZnS的催化剂具有可观的量子效率，但这些材料仅在紫外线辐射下活跃，这仅代表到达地球表面的太阳能的5％。因此，挑战仍然是利用可见光来引发水分分裂反应。可见光光催化的最佳量化宽松仅为6.5％，这显着低于使该技术在商业上可行的10％量化宽松。为了在这一领域取得科学的突破，开发新的光催化剂方法以解决这个具有挑战性的问题很重要。最近，PI开发了一种新的程序，用于合成含有小于11个原子的亚1 nm金属纳米簇。在初步实验中，与最活跃的市售催化剂相比，这些纳米颗粒在各种氧化反应中表现出非凡活性。现在，该项目将尝试探索此类颗粒对水分裂反应的反应性。 拟议的项目具有为可持续能源生成的新催化剂开发新的催化剂的巨大潜力。此外，它还将产生重大的教育影响，因为它将在材料科学和工程部门开始新的环境研究培训领域，该领域将重点介绍环境催化和可持续能源研究。