RII Track-4:NSF: Integrated Electrochemical-Optical Microscopy for High Throughput Screening of Electrocatalysts

RII Track-4：NSF：用于高通量筛选电催化剂的集成电化学光学显微镜

• 批准号: 2327025
• 负责人: Vignesh Sundaresan
• 金额: $ 24.41万
• 依托单位: University of Mississippi
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-02-01 至 2026-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327025&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RII; Track; NSF; Integrated; Electrochemical

In light of the global effort to combat climate change by transitioning to cleaner energy sources, the field of electrochemistry has become essential in making renewable energy practical. Clean electrical energy can be used to drive various chemical reactions, such as converting carbon dioxide into valuable products and producing hydrogen. The efficiency of these reactions largely depends on electrocatalysts, which are materials that enable these reactions to occur efficiently. Traditionally, these electrocatalysts have been tested using conventional electrochemical methods. However, these methods have two key limitations, 1) They provide an average measure of electrocatalyst efficiency, which masks the differences among individual catalysts. 2) They offer limited insights into the mechanisms and activity happening at the complex electrocatalyst interface. This project aims to address these limitations by developing a correlated electrochemical-optical microscope capable of testing electrocatalysts individually and in a high-throughput manner. Students involved in this project will gain valuable experience in new measurement and characterization techniques, as well as cutting-edge nanofabrication methods, significantly enhancing their technical skills. Furthermore, the Sundaresan Laboratory plans to engage undergraduate and K-12 students from minority-serving institutions in Mississippi through summer research programs and outreach activities to encourage students to pursue STEM degrees.The RII Track-4 EPSCoR Research Fellows project would provide a fellowship to an Assistant Professor and offer training to a graduate student at the University of Mississippi (UM). Nanoparticle electrocatalysts exhibit heterogeneity in size, shape, and surface chemistry, leading to differences in reactivity among them. Traditional electrochemical measurements reflect the average behavior of a heterogeneous system and do not account for individual variations. The overarching goal of this project is to develop and employ high-resolution scanning probe electrochemical microscopy - scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM) - coupled with novel optical methods for high-throughput screening of electrocatalysts at a single-entity level. This will be accomplished under the mentorship of Prof. Lane Baker, Texas A&M University, a world leader in scanning probe techniques. The correlated SECCM-optical technique will: 1) probe the electroactivity of an array of individual electrocatalysts with a well-defined particle-to-particle distance in a direct approach rather than the raster scan approach, and 2) validate electrofluorogenic probes for use as a proxy for measuring electrochemical activity. These two strategies enable high-throughput and massively parallel screening of electrocatalysts. Furthermore, this approach offers insights into how each entity uniquely contributes to the ensemble response seen in traditional electrochemical measurements. The broader impacts include a new measurement technique for the state of Mississippi, available for training graduate and undergraduate students through research and analytical chemistry courses at UM, as well as outreach activities for underrepresented students with the Electrochemical Society (ECS) chapter at UM.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.

鉴于全球通过转向清洁能源来应对气候变化的努力，电化学领域已成为实现可再生能源实用化的关键。清洁电能可用于驱动各种化学反应，例如将二氧化碳转化为有价值的产品并生产氢气。这些反应的效率很大程度上取决于电催化剂，电催化剂是使这些反应有效发生的材料。传统上，这些电催化剂是使用传统的电化学方法进行测试的。然而，这些方法有两个关键局限性，1）它们提供了电催化剂效率的平均测量，这掩盖了各个催化剂之间的差异。 2）它们对复杂电催化剂界面发生的机制和活性的了解有限。该项目旨在通过开发一种能够以高通量方式单独测试电催化剂的相关电化学光学显微镜来解决这些限制。参与该项目的学生将获得新测量和表征技术以及尖端纳米制造方法的宝贵经验，从而显着提高他们的技术技能。此外，Sundaresan 实验室计划通过夏季研究计划和外展活动吸引密西西比州少数民族服务机构的本科生和 K-12 学生，以鼓励学生攻读 STEM 学位。RII Track-4 EPSCoR 研究人员项目将为担任助理教授，并为密西西比大学 (UM) 的研究生提供培训。纳米颗粒电催化剂在尺寸、形状和表面化学方面表现出异质性，导致它们之间的反应性存在差异。传统的电化学测量反映了异质系统的平均行为，并没有考虑个体差异。该项目的总体目标是开发和采用高分辨率扫描探针电化学显微镜 - 扫描电化学细胞显微镜 (SECCM) - 与新颖的光学方法相结合，在单一实体水平上对电催化剂进行高通量筛选。这将在扫描探针技术领域的世界领先者德克萨斯农工大学 Lane Baker 教授的指导下完成。相关的 SECCM 光学技术将：1）以直接方法而不是光栅扫描方法探测一系列具有明确粒子间距离的单个电催化剂的电活性，2）验证电荧光探针的用途测量电化学活性的代理。这两种策略可以实现电催化剂的高通量和大规模并行筛选。此外，这种方法还提供了关于每个实体如何独特地贡献传统电化学测量中的整体响应的见解。更广泛的影响包括密西西比州的一种新测量技术，可用于通过密歇根大学的研究和分析化学课程培训研究生和本科生，以及与密歇根大学电化学协会 (ECS) 分会一起为代表性不足的学生开展外展活动。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。