MSGID: 1:317/3 6279eab5   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Energy researchers invent chameleon metal that acts like many others   
    Research could improve efficiency for storing renewable energy, making   
   carbon-free fuels, and manufacturing sustainable materials    
      
     Date:   
         May 9, 2022   
     Source:   
         University of Minnesota   
     Summary:   
         Researchers have invented a groundbreaking device that   
         electronically converts one metal into behaving like another to   
         use as a catalyst for speeding chemical reactions.   
      
      
      
   FULL STORY   
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   A team of energy researchers led by the University of Minnesota   
   Twin Cities has invented a groundbreaking device that electronically   
   converts one metal into behaving like another to use as a catalyst for   
   speeding chemical reactions. The fabricated device, called a "catalytic   
   condenser," is the first to demonstrate that alternative materials that   
   are electronically modified to provide new properties can yield faster,   
   more efficient chemical processing.   
      
      
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   The invention opens the door for new catalytic technologies using   
   non-precious metal catalysts for important applications such as storing   
   renewable energy, making renewable fuels, and manufacturing sustainable   
   materials.   
      
   The research is published online in JACS Au, the leading open access   
   journal of the American Chemical Society, where it was selected as an   
   Editor's Choice publication. The team is also working with the University   
   of Minnesota Office of Technology Commercialization and has a provisional   
   patent on the device.   
      
   Chemical processing for the last century has relied on the use of specific   
   materials to promote the manufacturing of chemicals and materials we use   
   in our everyday lives. Many of these materials, such as precious metals   
   ruthenium, platinum, rhodium, and palladium, have unique electronic   
   surface properties.   
      
   They can act as both metals and metal oxides, making them critical for   
   controlling chemical reactions.   
      
   The general public is probably most familiar with this concept in relation   
   to the uptick in thefts of catalytic converters on cars. Catalytic   
   converters are valuable because of the rhodium and palladium inside   
   them. In fact, palladium can be more expensive than gold.   
      
   These expensive materials are often in short supply around the world   
   and have become a major barrier to advancing technology.   
      
      
      
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   In order to develop this method for tuning the catalytic properties of   
   alternative materials, the researchers relied on their knowledge of how   
   electrons behave at surfaces. The team successfully tested a theory that   
   adding and removing electrons to one material could turn the metal oxide   
   into something that mimicked the properties of another.   
      
   "Atoms really do not want to change their number of electrons, but we   
   invented the catalytic condenser device that allows us to tune the number   
   of electrons at the surface of the catalyst," said Paul Dauenhauer,   
   a MacArthur Fellow and professor of chemical engineering and materials   
   science at the University of Minnesota who led the research team. "This   
   opens up an entirely new opportunity for controlling chemistry and   
   making abundant materials act like precious materials."  The catalytic   
   condenser device uses a combination of nanometer films to move and   
   stabilize electrons at the surface of the catalyst. This design has the   
   unique mechanism of combining metals and metal oxides with graphene to   
   enable fast electron flow with surfaces that are tunable for chemistry.   
      
   "Using various thin film technologies, we combined a nano-scale film of   
   alumina made from low-cost abundant aluminum metal with graphene, which   
   we were then able to tune to take on the properties of other materials,"   
   said Tzia Ming Onn, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of   
   Minnesota who fabricated and tested the catalytic condensers. "The   
   substantial ability to tune the catalytic and electronic properties of   
   the catalyst exceeded our expectations."  The catalytic condenser design   
   has broad utility as a platform device for a range of manufacturing   
   applications. This versatility comes from its nanometer fabrication that   
   incorporates graphene as an enabling component of the active surface   
   layer. The power of the device to stabilize electrons (or the absence   
   of electrons called "holes") is tunable with varying composition of a   
   strongly insulating internal layer. The device's active layer also can   
   incorporate any base catalyst material with additional additives, that can   
   then be tuned to achieve the properties of expensive catalytic materials.   
      
   "We view the catalytic condenser as a platform technology that can   
   be implemented across a host of manufacturing applications," said Dan   
   Frisbie, a professor and head of the University of Minnesota Department of   
   Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and research team member. "The   
   core design insights and novel components can be modified to almost any   
   chemistry we can imagine."  The team plans to continue their research   
   on catalytic condensers by applying it to precious metals for some   
   of the most important sustainability and environmental problems. With   
   financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy and National Science   
   Foundation, several parallel projects are already in progress to store   
   renewable electricity as ammonia, manufacture the key molecules in   
   renewable plastics, and clean gaseous waste streams.   
      
   The experimental invention of the catalytic condenser is part of a larger   
   mission of the U.S. Department of Energy, and this work was funded by   
   the U.S.   
      
   Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences Catalysis program via grant   
   #DE- SC0021163. Additional support to fabricate and characterize the   
   catalytic condenser devices was provided by the U.S. National Science   
   Foundation CBET- Catalysis program (Award #1937641) and the MRSEC   
   program DMR-2011401. Funding was also provided by donors Keith and Amy   
   Steva. Electron microscopy work was carried out in the University of   
   Minnesota's Characterization Facility.   
      
   Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and University   
   of California, Santa Barbara were also involved in the study.   
      
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Minnesota. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Tzia Ming Onn, Sallye R. Gathmann, Yuxin Wang, Roshan Patel,   
      Silu Guo,   
         Han Chen, Jimmy K. Soeherman, Phillip Christopher, Geoffrey   
         Rojas, K.   
      
         Andre Mkhoyan, Matthew Neurock, Omar A. Abdelrahman, C. Daniel   
         Frisbie, Paul J. Dauenhauer. Alumina Graphene Catalytic   
         Condenser for Programmable Solid Acids. JACS Au, 2022; DOI:   
         10.1021/jacsau.2c00114   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220509100929.htm   
      
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