Metal-organic framework thin films for electrocatalysis: A combined ex situ and in situ investigation

用于电催化的金属有机骨架薄膜：异位和原位联合研究

• 批准号: EP/Y002911/1
• 负责人: Souvik Roy
• 金额: $ 21.14万
• 依托单位: University of Lincoln
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FY002911%2F1
• 关键词: Metal; organic; framework; thin; films

Modern life on the planet is sustained by constant supply of energy, over 80% of which is currently provided by fossil-fuel-based carbon sources (coal, oil and gas). Climate change crisis, combined with dwindling North Sea fuel resources and volatility in the global fossil-fuel market mean there is a pressing need for securement of sustainable energy sources. In this context, electrochemical technologies are becoming increasingly important due to their prominent role in energy conversion, storage, and chemical industries. With renewable electricity being a key strategic component of UK Government's energy policy, coupled with cost reductions of renewable electricity in recent years, electrochemical technologies will play a key role in enabling decarbonisation. Alongside batteries, electrocatalysis is becoming a well-established direction in the domain of energy technologies (e.g., electrolysers and fuel cells) as well as fuels and chemical manufacturing. The applications include: (i) electrochemical conversion of CO2 to produce fuels and chemicals (e.g., formic acid, syngas, ethanol), facilitating carbon capture and utilisation pathways (CCU), (ii) oxidation of low-value waste chemicals (e.g., glycerol from biodiesel industry or ethylene glycol from PET digestion) to generate high-value products used by chemical industries. The primary benefit of such electricity powered processes is their contribution towards reducing the CO2 emission and transitioning to a sustainable society. However, one of the key challenges in making electrocatalytic technologies economically viable is developing inexpensive catalysts that can be used at the electrodes to drive the chemical reactions efficiently. In this context, use of porous materials as a catalyst is appealing because they have large surface area with well-defined pores and channels with integrated catalytic sites. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are such a class of microporous materials with permanent porosity, and their structure can be designed with exceptional degree of control. While these crystalline materials have enormous potential for applications in gas sorption, catalysis, energy storage, light harvesting etc., their use in electrochemical systems has remained problematic due to low conductivity, and thus, many questions remain open in the field.In this proposal, we aim to gain fundamental insight on how these materials operate as electrocatalysts. The overall idea is that the lessons learned from this project will feed into the design principle of next generation of materials. Due to the structural complexity of the MOFs, 'visualising' their structure under operating condition requires a wide range of technical tools including spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and imaging. For this purpose, we will team up with international researchers to uncover how structural aspects of the materials contribute to the catalytic activity and whether the materials undergo structural reconstruction during catalysis.

地球上的现代生活是通过持续的能源供应来维持的，其中80％以上是基于化石燃料的碳源（煤炭，石油和天然气）提供的。气候变化危机，加上北海燃料资源的减少以及全球化石燃料市场的波动，这意味着人们需要坚持可持续能源的安全。在这种情况下，由于电化学技术在能源转化，存储和化学工业中的重要作用，因此变得越来越重要。由于可再生电力是英国政府能源政策的关键战略组成部分，再加上近年来可再生电力的成本降低，电化学技术将在脱碳中发挥关键作用。除了电池外，电催化正在成为能源技术（例如电气器和燃料电池）以及燃料和化学制造的域中的一个公认的方向。应用包括：（i）二氧化碳对产生燃料和化学物质的电化学转化（例如甲酸，合成酶，乙醇），促进碳的捕获和利用途径（CCU）（CCU）（CCU），（ii）氧化低价值废物化学物质（例如，来自生物埃德岛的高价值生物含量），从而对生物含量高的化学物质（例如，从生物含有生物含量的产物）氧化（例如）化学工业。这种电力动力过程的主要好处是它们有助于减少二氧化碳排放并过渡到可持续社会。但是，使电催化技术在经济上可行的主要挑战之一是开发廉价的催化剂，这些催化剂可在电极上使用，以有效地驱动化学反应。在这种情况下，将多孔材料用作催化剂很有吸引力，因为它们具有较大的表面积，其定义明确的毛孔和通道具有集成的催化位点。金属有机框架（MOF）是具有永久性孔隙率的一类微孔材料，它们的结构可以具有出色的控制程度。尽管这些结晶材料具有在气体吸附，催化，能源储能，光收集等中应用的巨大潜力，但由于电导率低，它们在电化学系统中的使用仍然存在问题，因此，在该提案中，许多问题仍然存在。在此提案中，我们旨在获得对这些材料如何作为电解器的基本见解。总体想法是，从该项目中学到的教训将融入下一代材料的设计原理中。由于MOF的结构复杂性，在工作条件下“可视化”其结构需要广泛的技术工具，包括光谱，X射线衍射和成像。为此，我们将与国际研究人员合作，发现材料的结构方面如何促进催化活性，以及​​材料在催化过程中是否经过结构重建。