EAGER: Electronic Modulation of Binding and Catalysis on Metal-Oxides: CO Oxidation on NiO

Catalysts are key materials used to accelerate and improve the energy efficiency of many processes for manufacturing fuels and chemicals. The project investigates a new concept - dynamic catalyst modulation - for further accelerating the rates of catalytic reactions, with corresponding improvements in energy utilization and reduced capital costs of process equipment. If successful, the concept is potentially applicable to a wide range of industrial catalytic processes. The investigators will incorporate the principles of dynamic catalyst modulation into various educational media.

The catalytic activity of materials is dictated by the binding energetics of key reaction intermediates, described through energy scaling relationships, which predicts a maximum in the catalytic activity - characterized by the well-known Sabatier principle - achievable only through material design. The study will investigate the extent to which field-effect modulation can be used to induce periodic oscillations in applied potential, on the timescale of turnover events, that alter the binding energetics of nickel oxide catalyst films on back-gated devices. Operating catalysts under a constantly oscillating applied potential, where binding energetics of reaction intermediates are constantly changing, allows a single catalyst to mimic the performance of multiple materials in a periodic fashion. Altering the Fermi level will allow for the design of catalysts that break past the current limitations imposed by scaling relationships, to reach unprecedented levels of catalytic activity. The variation in binding energy of a carbon monoxide and oxygen on nickel oxide model system as a function of temperature and back-gate voltage will be characterized to determine carbon monoxide oxidation kinetics as a function of back gate voltage at steady state and oscillatory conditions.

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.