US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Nanostructured Multiferroics for Solar Hydrogen Production

美国-埃及合作研究：用于太阳能制氢的纳米结构多铁性材料

• 批准号: 1445546
• 负责人: Arunava Gupta
• 金额: $ 3万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-10-01 至 2016-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1445546&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: US; Egypt; Cooperative; Research; Nanostructured; US; Egypt; Cooperative; Research; Nanostructured

This project supports a cooperative research effort by Dr. Arunava Gupta of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa with Dr. Atef Daoud of the Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute, Helwan, Egypt. They plan to study "Nanostructured Multiferriocs for Solar Hydrogen Production." The project will support one year of preliminary research to develop a full collaborative research proposal. The increasing demand for clean energy has motivated considerable effort to exploit the properties of various solar-harvesting materials and photocatalysts. Solar hydrogen is considered to be an important fuel for the future as it is based on clean renewable precursors - solar energy and water. The scientific outcomes of the project are expected to include both advances in the synthesis of a new class of nanostructured photocatalysts and fundamental understanding of their materials and physical characteristics. The project will also conduct feasibility studies on the use of functionalized nanomaterials for water splitting reaction which will provide a foundation for further research and technology development for hydrogen generation from solar energy and water. Since the first reported photocatalytic production of H2 from water in 1972 using TiO2, a variety of semiconductor materials have been developed for the production of solar fuels. Some of these materials have achieved high quantum efficiencies using ultraviolet light (about 4% of the sunlight), but the efficiency of operation with visible light (about 43% of the sunlight) is much lower (near 2.5%). This is primarily because of materials-related issues and limitations, such as the control of the band gap, band structure, optical properties and available surface area for reaction. The PIs plan to investigate the feasibility of using nanostructured materials and composites based on multiferroic bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) as photocatalysts for hydrogen production from water. The use of multiferroic materials(combining the properties of ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism and ferroelasticity) for water splitting remain largely unexplored; although BiFeO3, for instance, has a suitable energy band gap around 2.6 eV. The exploratory research will include: developing chemical routes for the synthesis of rare earth doped bismuth ferrite multiferroic nanostructures and metal/multiferroics nanocomposites, exploring size-property relationships of the nanomaterials, and assessing their capabilities for water splitting and hydrogen production. The novel nanostructured photocatalysts based on multiferroics are likely to possess band gaps for efficient absorption of solar radiation and also result in efficient separation of charge carriers. Chemical routes, such as sol-gel, hydrothermal and combustion synthesis, will be utilized to synthesize the nanostructured photocatalysts. The synthesis work will be carried out at Alexandria University, while the characterization and physical property measurements will be carried out by at the University of Alabama. The proposed research requires a multidisciplinary effort that will make significant contributions to scientific knowledge, education outreach and infrastructure. The planned travel by the US PI and US student to work with their Egyptian partners will provide them a direct opportunity to learn about carrying out research in that country. Beyond fundamental discovery and technology development, the US-Egypt team will establish and maintain a valuable network that provides for competitive, interdisciplinary, and globally engaged research. The US PI is an active participant in the multi-disciplinary Center for Materials for Information Technology (MINT) and will leverage the existing resources available for the maximum impact of outreach and dissemination of results specifically related to this work. This project is funded through the US-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Fund Program. Support for the U.S. side of these cooperative projects is provided to the National Science Foundation by the U.S. Department of State. The Egyptian Government provides support for the Egyptian side of the collaboration.

该项目支持阿拉巴马大学塔斯卡卢萨大学的阿鲁纳瓦·古普塔（Arunava Gupta）博士与埃及中央冶金研究与发展研究所的Atef Daoud博士。他们计划研究“用于太阳能生产的纳米结构多二铁”。该项目将支持一年的初步研究，以制定一项完整的协作研究建议。对清洁能源的需求不断增长，促使大量努力利用各种太阳能收获材料和光催化剂的特性。太阳能氢被认为是未来的重要燃料，因为它基于可再生的前体 - 太阳能和水。预计该项目的科学结果将包括一类新的纳米结构光催化剂的综合以及对其材料和物理特征的基本了解。该项目还将对使用功能化纳米材料进行水分反应进行可行性研究，这将为进一步的研究和技术开发从太阳能和水生成氢。自1972年使用TiO2从水中从水中获得了H2的光催化生产以来，已经开发了多种半导体材料来生产太阳能燃料。其中一些材料使用紫外线（约占阳光的4％）实现了高量子效率，但是可见光的运行效率（约占阳光的43％）要低得多（接近2.5％）。这主要是由于材料相关的问题和局限性，例如控制带隙，带结构，光学特性和可用反应的表面积。 PIS计划研究基于多性鞭毛铁氧体（BifeO3）作为水产生氢的光催化剂的纳米结构材料和复合材料的可行性。多用途材料（将铁电性，铁磁性和铁弹性的特性结合在一起）仍在很大程度上没有探索；尽管Bifeo3，但在2.6 eV附近的能量带隙很合适。探索性研究将包括：开发化学途径，用于合成稀土掺杂的二型铁氧体多效性纳米结构和金属/多效性纳米复合材料，探索纳米材料的尺寸质地关系，并评估其水分分裂和氢生产的能力。基于多效率的新型纳米结构光催化剂可能具有有效吸收太阳辐射的带隙，并且还可以有效地分离电荷载体。化学途径，例如溶胶 - 凝胶，水热和燃烧合成，将用于合成纳米结构的光催化剂。合成工作将在亚历山大大学进行，而特征和物理财产测量将由阿拉巴马大学进行。拟议的研究需要一项多学科的努力，这将为科学知识，教育外展和基础设施做出重大贡献。美国PI和美国学生与埃及合作伙伴合作的计划旅行将为他们提供一个直接的机会，可以学习在该国进行研究。除了基本发现和技术开发外，美国埃及团队还将建立和维护一个有价值的网络，为竞争性，跨学科和全球参与的研究提供。美国PI是信息技术材料材料中心（MINT）的积极参与者，并将利用可用的现有资源来最大程度地影响外展和与这项工作特别相关的结果。该项目是通过美国埃及联合科学技术基金计划资助的。美国国务院向美国国家科学基金会提供了对这些合作项目的支持。埃及政府为合作的埃及方面提供了支持。