| NSF Org: |
CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 25, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 25, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1634687 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Khershed Cooper
khcooper@nsf.gov (703)292-7017 CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $250,002.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $250,002.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
926 DALNEY ST NW ATLANTA GA US 30318-6395 (404)894-4819 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
225 North Avenue, NW Atlanta GA US 30332-0002 |
| 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): | NANOMANUFACTURING |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| 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
Metal nanocrystals with controlled shapes are essential to a variety of applications, including energy conversion, environmental protection, and chemical/pharmaceutical manufacturing. Despite recent progress in their synthesis, there still exists a major gap in transitioning the nanocrystals from academic studies to industrial applications, primarily due to the lack of ability to manufacture them at an industrially relevant scale without compromising quality. Recent demonstrations indicate that continuous-flow droplet reactors offer a practical platform for the scalable and cost-effective production of metal nanocrystals with uniform sizes and controlled shapes. The droplet-based platform offers a linearly scalable technology that can be operated at both small and large quantities under essentially identical conditions for the purposes of protocol optimization and manufacturing, respectively. In addition to the scientific and technological advances, this award will help forge links between different disciplines that include nonmanufacturing, materials science, catalysis, colloidal science, and energy technology. It also has immediate impacts on the society in the following two aspects: manufacturing of nanocatalysts for fuel cells, a truly zero-emission technology critical to environmental protection; and promotion of diversity in higher education by engaging women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups into this project.
In working with its collaborators at Nissan, the team aims to develop a new technology for the scalable manufacturing of octahedral platinum-nickel nanocrystals. Such bimetallic nanocrystals have been produced in batch reactors and demonstrated with the highest activity toward oxygen reduction, a key reaction occurring on the cathodes of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). However, due to the poor batch-to-batch reproducibility and inevitable variations between syntheses, it has proven challenging to obtain an adequate amount of uniform nanocrystals for device testing. Through this award, an optimal combination of metal precursors and reductant will be identified based on kinetic measurements to ensure that the reduction will not occur prematurely, and instead only when the droplet reactors pass through a reaction zone held at an elevated temperature. A similar protocol will also be developed to conformally coat the surfaces of platinum-nickel octahedra with platinum shells of 1-2 atomic layers thick to greatly enhance their catalytic activity. The catalysts will be tested by engineers at Nissan and evaluated for commercial use in vehicles powered by PEMFCs. This research will pave the way for future deployment of industrial catalysts based on nanocrystals with controlled shapes.
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.
The overarching goal of this project is to develop a new platform technology for the continuous and scalable manufacturing of platinum-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction, a reaction key to the operation of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. During this project, an optimal combination of metal precursors and reducing agents were identified based upon kinetic measurements to ensure that the reduction would not occur until their mixtures passed through the “reaction zone” held at an elevated temperature. All the steps involved in a synthesis, including separation, purification, and washing of the products, were also integrated and automated. A similar protocol was further developed to conformally coat the surfaces of platinum-nickel alloy electrocatalysts with ultrathin skins of platinum of a few atomic layers in thickness to greatly enhance their catalytic durability while retaining the activity toward oxygen reduction. A database of platinum-based nanocrystals and oxygen reduction activities was established and some of the catalytic materials were also supplied to industrial partners for further evaluation. The mechanistic understanding and insights achieved during this project also contribute to the high-volume production of other types of nanomaterials with well-controlled sizes, shapes, compositions, internal structures, and other related properties for a wide variety of applications, including those in catalysis, photonics, electronics, display, energy conversion, imaging, and medicine. By enabling the manufacturing of various nanomaterials at an industrially relevant scale without compromising the quality, this work helps bridge the gap in transitioning nanomaterials from academic studies to industrial applications. In addition to the scientific and technological advances, this research forges links between different disciplines that include nonmanufacturing, materials science, materials chemistry, catalysis, colloidal science, and energy technology. It also has immediate impacts on the society in the aspects of manufacturing of advanced catalysts for fuel cells, a zero-emission technology essential to environmental protection; and promotion of diversity in higher education by engaging women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups into this project. This award partially supported the training of three graduate students (including one Hispanic female), together with the engagement of one Hispanic undergraduate student from the University of Texas at El Paso. This research has resulted in eight publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Last Modified: 10/15/2019
Modified by: Younan Xia
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