CAREER: The role of Nitrogen Photofixation on Agriculture and K12 Science

职业：氮光固定对农业和 K12 科学的作用

基本信息

批准号：
1846611
负责人：
Marta Hatzell
金额：
$ 50万
依托单位：
Georgia Tech Research Corporation
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-06-01 至 2024-05-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1846611&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
CAREER role Nitrogen Photofixation Agriculture

项目摘要

The goal of this work is to produce fertilizer on farms using only inexpensive and safe minerals. Producing fertilizers at a farm rather than at large central facilities can reduce the carbon and nitrogen emissions released from current fertilizer production practices. The research will develop a highly potentially revolutionary technology that transforms air into fertilizer using only the sun as the source of energy. The investigator will then evaluate the materials and systems needed to increase fertilizer production from this solar-based device. The education plan will develop a teaching component for K-12 science classrooms, which will connect the nitrogen cycle with food production and clean agriculture.The proposed research will elucidate the impact of nitrogen photofixation using advanced synchrotron-based techniques, photocatalytic testing, and detailed thermodynamic analysis. The PI will identify the active sites and environmental conditions that increase the rate of photocatalytic nitrogen fixation at ambient conditions using titanium dioxide-based minerals. Active site identification will occur using advanced in-situ surface science and spectroscopy conducted at Georgia Tech and in a national laboratory. Acquisition of kinetic data will occur through a series of bench and in-field photocatalytic based experiments. Kinetic data will serve as the foundation for a systems level analyses of energy and exergy focused on discerning the environmental impacts of decentralized solar-driven fertilizer production systems. In addition, the atomic scale insight coupled with field tests will seek to discern the role earth abundant minerals (titanium dioxide) play in the natural abiotic nitrogen cycle. The goal of the education plan is to develop new approaches to communicate the complexity and impacts of the nitrogen cycle at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels. At the K-12 level, the PI will engage with high school teachers to develop new teaching modules focused on the imbalance in the nitrogen cycle. Teachers will work in the PIs laboratory to understand the research, and then develop a curriculum that actively incorporates novel research findings. In addition, environmental engineering practitioners will engage students in efforts that connect issues related to the nitrogen cycle to actual environmental engineering. Broad dissemination of the teaching modules will occur through an open access forum. This research is transformative, as it will allow for the development of point-of-use nutrient production and remediation based technologies that can aid a growing global population through facilitating greater access to clean air, water, and food.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项工作的目的是仅使用廉价且安全的矿物质在农场上生产肥料。在农场而不是在大型中央设施中生产肥料可以减少当前肥料生产实践释放的碳和氮气排放。该研究将开发一种高度潜在的革命性技术，该技术仅使用太阳作为能源将空气转化为肥料。然后，研究人员将评估这款基于太阳能设备的肥料生产所需的材料和系统。该教育计划将为K-12科学课堂开发一个教学组成部分，该课程将将氮气周期与粮食生产和清洁农业联系起来。拟议的研究将使用基于先发同步基因的技术，光取代测试和详细的热力学分析来阐明氮光化的影响。 PI将使用基于二氧化钛的矿物质在环境条件下在环境条件下增加光催化氮固定速率的活性位点和环境条件。使用在佐治亚理工学院和国家实验室进行的先进的现场表面科学和光谱法，将进行积极的现场识别。动力学数据的获取将通过一系列基于基于光催化的实验进行。动力学数据将成为系统水平分析能源和充满活力的基础，该基础致力于辨别分散太阳能驱动的肥料生产系统的环境影响。此外，原子量表的见解以及现场测试将试图辨别地球丰富的矿物质（二氧化钛）在天然的非生物氮循环中起作用。教育计划的目的是开发新方法，以传达K-12，本科和研究生水平的氮周期的复杂性和影响。在K-12级别，PI将与高中教师互动，以开发针对氮周期失衡的新教学模块。教师将在PIS实验室工作以了解研究，然后开发一种积极纳入新研究结果的课程。此外，环境工程从业人员将使学生参与将与氮周期相关的问题与实际环境工程联系起来的努力。教学模块的广泛传播将通过开放访问论坛进行。这项研究具有变革性，因为它将允许开发使用点的营养生产和基于补救的技术，这些技术可以通过促进更大的清洁空气，水和食品的访问来帮助不断增长的全球人群。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并认为通过该基金会的知识功能和广泛的影响来评估Criteria的智力优点和广泛的影响。