| NSF Org: |
CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | February 18, 2011 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 31, 2014 |
| Award Number: | 1056611 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Alexis Lewis
alewis@nsf.gov (703)292-2624 CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | May 1, 2011 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2016 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $409,768.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $423,718.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2014 = $13,950.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4400 VESTAL PKWY E BINGHAMTON NY US 13902 (607)777-6136 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
4400 VESTAL PKWY E BINGHAMTON NY US 13902 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
MATERIALS AND SURFACE ENG, Other Global Learning & Trng |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001415DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
The objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award is to elucidate the atomistic mechanism of the reduction of metal oxides. Real-time in situ microscopy techniques (in situ ultrahigh vacuum scanning probe microscopy and in situ environmental transmission electron microscopy) are employed to make controlled microscopic observations of the reaction morphology, structure and chemistry of the oxide reduction by temporally and spatially resolved high-resolution imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy. Experiments will be performed on the reduction of simple model system of copper oxides (Cu2O and CuO) through vacuum annealing and hydrogen gas, which will lead to clear interpretations and establishment of fundamental concepts. The dynamic in situ visualization will be correlated with theoretical modeling for obtaining essential insights into reaction active sites, transient states, mass transport mechanisms, reaction activation energies, and reaction pathways.
The study will lead to mechanistic understanding of the reduction mechanism of metal oxides in the regimes from the initial reaction stages of nucleation and growth to the later-stage macro-scale growth of the reduced oxide phase. The goal of this research is to develop a predictive and hierarchical multi-scale oxidation model that naturally links these different stages of the oxide reduction. Through the development of such a predictive model, the project will have major impact on materials processing for many practical applications such as catalysis, thin film growth, fuel reaction, gas sensing, and electronic device fabrication, where the oxide reduction plays a crucial role. Graduate and undergraduate engineering students will benefit through involvement in the research as well as the development of a virtual transmission electron microscope that is designed to remove conventional barriers hindering effectively learning electron microscopy. High school students and science teachers will be engaged to provide them firsthand research experience.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Reduction treatment of metal oxides has been widely used to yield active materials for a large variety of applications ranging from catalysis to electronic devices. The chemical and physical physical properties of metal oxides are crucially affected by their stoichiometry, phase, microstructure, atomic termination, and defects, all of which can be modified by a choice of reduction treatment. Although a fundamental understanding of the microscopic mechanism of the reduction of metal oxides is indispensable for obtaining controllable functionalities of the oxide, our present knowledge of the atomistic mechanism of the oxide reduction is still very limited. Several reasons contribute to this paucity of data on simple systems: the difficulty of measurements of the atomistic processes of the reaction, the transient nature of different suboxides involved in the reaction, and the longstanding challenge in identifying the reaction mechanisms in heterogeneous systems, where both microscopic and macroscopic factors can influence the reaction processes. This research has provided new mechanistic understanding of the reduction of model systems of metal oxides including the reaction active sites, transient states, mass transport mechanisms, reaction activation energies, and reaction pathways with the use of temporally and spatially resolved in-situ high-resolution imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy in conjunction with atomistic modeling. The research results have practical applications for materials processing related to thin films, fuel reactions, heterogeneous catalysis, gas sensing and electronic device fabrication.
The project has resulted in the training of seven graduate students and six undergraduate students in materials physics and chemistry, new microscopy/spectroscopy and modeling techniques as well as materials issues that are at the forefront of current energy research. Among them, 4 graduated PhDs are currently working in industries and national labs on new expansion in the related fields. The research findings have been broadly disseminated through a variety of media, including journals, conference presentations and proceedings, workshops, and websites.
Last Modified: 01/06/2017
Modified by: Guangwen Zhou
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