 |
|
New nanoscale engineering breakthrough points to hydrogen-powered vehicles
March 06, 2007Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have developed an advanced concept in nanoscale catalyst engineering - a combination of experiments and simulations that will bring polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells for hydrogen-powered vehicles closer to massive commercialization.
The results of their findings identify a clear trend in the behavior of extended and nanoscale surfaces of platinum-bimetallic alloy. Additionally, the techniques and concepts derived from the research program are expected to make overarching contributions to other areas of science well beyond the focus on electrocatalysis.
The Argonne researchers, Nenad Markovic and Vojislav Stamenkovic, published related results last month in Science and this month in Nature Materials on the behavior of single crystal and polycrystalline platinum alloy surfaces. The researchers discovered that the nanosegregated platinum-nickel alloy surface has unique catalytic properties, opening up important new directions for the development of active and stable practical cathode catalysts in fuel cells.
These scientific accomplishments together provide a solid foundation for the development of hydrogen-powered vehicles, as basic research brings value of society today by helping to lay the foundation for tomorrow's technological breakthroughs. "Understanding catalysis is a grand challenge of nanoscience that is now coming within reach," said George Crabtree, director of Argonne's Materials Science Division. "The systematic work that Voya and Nenad are doing is a major step toward transforming catalysis from an empirical art to a fundamental science."
Their experiments and approach sought to substantially improve and reduce platinum loading as the oxygen-reduction catalyst. The research identified a fundamental relationship in electrocatalytic trends on surfaces between the experimentally determined surface electronic structure (the d -band centre) and activity for the oxygen-reduction reaction. This relationship exhibits "volcano-type" behavior, where the maximum catalytic activity is governed by a balance between adsorption energies of reactive intermediates and surface coverage by spectator (blocking) species.
The electrocatalytic trends established for extended surfaces explain the activity pattern of nanocatalysts and provide a fundamental basis for the enhancement of cathode catalysts. By combining experiments with simulations in the quest for surfaces with desired activity, the researchers developed an advanced concept in nanoscale catalyst engineering.
"In the past, theoretical connections have been suggested between electronic behavior and catalytic activity," explained Markovic. "Our work represents the first time that the connections have been identified experimentally. For us, this development constitutes the beginning of more breakthrough advances in nanocatalysts."
According to Stamenkovic, "Our study demonstrates the potential of new analytical tools for characterizing nanoscale surfaces in order to fine tune their properties in a desired direction. We have identified a cathode surface that is capable of achieving and even exceeding the target for catalytic activity with improved stability. This discovery sets a new bar for catalytic activity of the cathodic reaction in fuel cells."
Through continued research combining nanoscale fabrication, electrochemical characterization and numerical simulation a new generation of multi-metallic systems with engineered nanoscale surfaces is on the horizon. Argonne's Center for Nanoscale Materials, Advanced Photon Source and Electron Microscopy Center will enable some of this research.
"We have got crucial support from Argonne management to set up the new labs and launch research directions, which would establish Argonne as a leading center in basic sciences related to energy conversion." said Stamenkovic.
Their lab includes a custom built three-chamber UHV system equipped with the state-of-the-art surface sensitive tools, including Low Energy Ion Scattering Spectroscopy (LEISS), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), angle resolved X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS with monochromator), ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy
(UPS), Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) optics, sputtering guns, thermal evaporators, dual hemispherical analyzers, and chamber with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy AFM. All three chambers are connected to each other but they can also work as independent chambers, making it possible to transfer samples from one to the other unit in order to get detailed surface characterization or to make desirable surface modification.
"We hope that this research program will lead the nation to more secure energy independence and a cleaner environment for future generations," Markovic said.
Collaborators on the research were Bongjin Mun and Philip Ross at DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Matthias Arenz and Karl Mayrhofer from Technical University of Munich, Christopher Lucas from the University of Liverpool and Guofeng Wang from the University of South Carolina.
This research was funded by DOE's Office of Basic Energy Sciences and by General Motors. The Nature Materials report is on-line at www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/index.html. The Science paper published in January is online at www.sciencemag.org/content/vol315/issue5811/index.dtl.
The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory conducts basic and applied scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from high-energy physics to climatology and biotechnology. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations to help advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for the future. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
Argonne National Laboratory
These scientific accomplishments together provide a solid foundation for the development of hydrogen-powered vehicles, as basic research brings value of society today by helping to lay the foundation for tomorrow's technological breakthroughs. "Understanding catalysis is a grand challenge of nanoscience that is now coming within reach," said George Crabtree, director of Argonne's Materials Science Division. "The systematic work that Voya and Nenad are doing is a major step toward transforming catalysis from an empirical art to a fundamental science."
Their experiments and approach sought to substantially improve and reduce platinum loading as the oxygen-reduction catalyst. The research identified a fundamental relationship in electrocatalytic trends on surfaces between the experimentally determined surface electronic structure (the d -band centre) and activity for the oxygen-reduction reaction. This relationship exhibits "volcano-type" behavior, where the maximum catalytic activity is governed by a balance between adsorption energies of reactive intermediates and surface coverage by spectator (blocking) species.
The electrocatalytic trends established for extended surfaces explain the activity pattern of nanocatalysts and provide a fundamental basis for the enhancement of cathode catalysts. By combining experiments with simulations in the quest for surfaces with desired activity, the researchers developed an advanced concept in nanoscale catalyst engineering.
"In the past, theoretical connections have been suggested between electronic behavior and catalytic activity," explained Markovic. "Our work represents the first time that the connections have been identified experimentally. For us, this development constitutes the beginning of more breakthrough advances in nanocatalysts."
According to Stamenkovic, "Our study demonstrates the potential of new analytical tools for characterizing nanoscale surfaces in order to fine tune their properties in a desired direction. We have identified a cathode surface that is capable of achieving and even exceeding the target for catalytic activity with improved stability. This discovery sets a new bar for catalytic activity of the cathodic reaction in fuel cells."
Through continued research combining nanoscale fabrication, electrochemical characterization and numerical simulation a new generation of multi-metallic systems with engineered nanoscale surfaces is on the horizon. Argonne's Center for Nanoscale Materials, Advanced Photon Source and Electron Microscopy Center will enable some of this research.
"We have got crucial support from Argonne management to set up the new labs and launch research directions, which would establish Argonne as a leading center in basic sciences related to energy conversion." said Stamenkovic.
Their lab includes a custom built three-chamber UHV system equipped with the state-of-the-art surface sensitive tools, including Low Energy Ion Scattering Spectroscopy (LEISS), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), angle resolved X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS with monochromator), ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy
(UPS), Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) optics, sputtering guns, thermal evaporators, dual hemispherical analyzers, and chamber with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy AFM. All three chambers are connected to each other but they can also work as independent chambers, making it possible to transfer samples from one to the other unit in order to get detailed surface characterization or to make desirable surface modification.
"We hope that this research program will lead the nation to more secure energy independence and a cleaner environment for future generations," Markovic said.
Collaborators on the research were Bongjin Mun and Philip Ross at DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Matthias Arenz and Karl Mayrhofer from Technical University of Munich, Christopher Lucas from the University of Liverpool and Guofeng Wang from the University of South Carolina.
This research was funded by DOE's Office of Basic Energy Sciences and by General Motors. The Nature Materials report is on-line at www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/index.html. The Science paper published in January is online at www.sciencemag.org/content/vol315/issue5811/index.dtl.
The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory conducts basic and applied scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from high-energy physics to climatology and biotechnology. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations to help advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for the future. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
Argonne National Laboratory
Nanoscale Current Events and Nanoscale News RSSSmall optical force can budge nanoscale objects
With a bit of leverage, Cornell researchers have used a very tiny beam of light with as little as 1 milliwatt of power to move a silicon structure up to 12 nanometers. That's enough to completely switch the optical properties of the structure from opaque to transparent, they reported.
Small nanoparticles bring big improvement to medical imaging
If you're watching the complex processes in a living cell, it is easy to miss something important-especially if you are watching changes that take a long time to unfold and require high-spatial-resolution imaging.
Pushing light beyond its known limits
Scientists at the University of Adelaide have made a breakthrough that could change the world's thinking on what light is capable of.
Nanotech in Space: Rensselaer Experiment To Weather the Trials of Orbit
Novel nanomaterials developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are scheduled to blast off into orbit on November 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.
Caltech scientists develop DNA origami nanoscale breadboards for carbon nanotube circuits
In work that someday may lead to the development of novel types of nanoscale electronic devices, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has combined DNA's talent for self-assembly with the remarkable electronic properties of carbon nanotubes, thereby suggesting a solution to the long-standing problem of organizing carbon nanotubes into nanoscale electronic circuits.
Engineers image nanostructure of a solid acid catalyst and boost its catalytic activity
The catalytic processes that facilitate the production of many chemicals and fuels could become much more environmentally friendly thanks to a breakthrough achieved by researchers from Lehigh and Rice Universities.
Findings show nanomedicine promising for treating spinal cord injuries
Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using nano-spheres that could be injected into the blood shortly after an accident.
Magnetic nanoparticles to simultaneously diagnose, monitor and treat
Whether it's magnetic nanoparticles (mNPs) giving an army of 'therapeutically armed' white blood cells direction to invade a deadly tumour's territory, or the use of mNPs to target specific nerve channels and induce nerve-led behaviour (such as the life-dependant thumping of our hearts), mNPs have come a long way in the past decade.
Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing
Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics.
LANL Roadrunner simulates nanoscale material failure
Very tiny wires, called nanowires, made from such metals as silver and gold, may play a crucial role as electrical or mechanical switches in the development of future-generation ultrasmall nanodevices.
More Nanoscale Current Events and Nanoscale News Articles
 |
Nanoscale: Visualizing an Invisible World by Kenneth S. Deffeyes (Author), Stephen E. Deffeyes (Author) The world is made up of structures too small to see with the naked eye, too small to see even with an electron microscope. Einstein established the reality of atoms and molecules in the early 1900s. How can we see a world measured in fractions of nanometers? (Most atoms are less than one nanometer, less than one-billionth of a meter, in diameter.) This beautiful and fascinating book gives us a tour of the invisible nanoscale world. It offers many vivid color illustrations of atomic structures, each accompanied by a short, engagingly written essay. The structures advance from the simple (air, ice) to the complex (supercapacitor, rare earth magnet). Each subject was chosen not in search of comprehensiveness but because it illustrates how atomic structure creates a property (such as... |
 |
No Small Matter: Science on the Nanoscale by Felice C. Frankel (Author), George M. Whitesides (Author) A small revolution is remaking the world. The only problem is, we can’t see it. This book uses dazzling images and evocative descriptions to reveal the virtually invisible realities and possibilities of nanoscience. An introduction to the science and technology of small things, No Small Matter explains science on the nanoscale. Authors Felice C. Frankel and George M. Whitesides offer an overview of recent scientific advances that have given us our ever-shrinking microtechnology—for instance, an information processor connected by wires only 1,000 atoms wide. They describe the new methods used to study nanostructures, suggest ways of understanding their often bizarre behavior, and outline their uses in technology. This book explains the various means of making... |
 |
Introduction to Nanoscale Science and Technology (Nanostructure Science and Technology) by Massimiliano Di Ventra (Editor), Stephane Evoy (Editor), James R. Heflin (Editor) Nanoscale science and technology is a young, promising field that encompasses a wide range of disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, and materials science. With rapid advances in areas such as molecular electronics, synthetic biomolecular motors, DNA-based self-assembly, and manipulation of individual atoms, nanotechnology has captured the attention and imagination of researchers and the general public. Introduction to Nanoscale Science and Technology provides a broad and thorough introduction that is aimed specifically at undergraduate seniors and early graduate students in all of the disciplines enumerated above. It will also be of value to academic, industrial, and government researchers interested in a primer in the field. ... |
 |
Electrical Transport in Nanoscale Systems by Massimiliano Di Ventra (Author) This graduate textbook provides an in-depth description of the transport phenomena relevant to systems of nanoscale dimensions. The different theoretical approaches are critically discussed, with emphasis on their basic assumptions and approximations. The book also covers information content in the measurement of currents, the role of initial conditions in establishing a steady state, and the modern use of density-functional theory. Topics are introduced by simple physical arguments, with particular attention to the non-equilibrium statistical nature of electrical conduction, and followed by a detailed formal derivation. This textbook is ideal for graduate students in physics, chemistry, and electrical engineering. |
 |
SpillKlenz by NanoScale Corporation Odor eliminating liquid absorbent facilitates immediate clean-up of liquids by quickly absorbing spills and neutralizing the accompanying odors. |
 |
OdorKlenz Laundry, Medium by NanoScale Corporation OdorKlenz Laundry is an odor elimination laundry additive which eliminates tough odors regular detergents leave behind. |
 |
SpillKlenz Travel Kit by NanoScale Corporation Odor eliminating liquid absorbent kit facilitates immediate clean-up of liquids by quickly absorbing spills and neutralizing the accompanying odors. The kit provides spill control and containment in confined spaces where clean-up is inconvenient. Kit includes 2 revolutionary odor neutralizing sorbent packets, 2 sanitizing wipes, 2 disposal bags, 1 scoop and scraper, and 1 pair of non-latex gloves. |
 |
Nanoscale Geordie Haley (Primary Contributor) |
 |
Design for Manufacturability and Yield for Nano-Scale CMOS (Integrated Circuits and Systems) by Charles Chiang (Author), Jamil Kawa (Author) As we approach the 32 nm CMOS technology node the design and manufacturing communities are dealing with a lithography system that has to print circuit artifacts that are significantly less than half the wavelength of the light source used, with new materials, with tighter pitches, and higher aspect ratio metallurgies. This reality has resulted in three main manufacturability issues that have to be addressed: printability, planarization, and intra-die variability. Addressing in depth the fundamentals impacting those three issues at all the stages of the design process is not a luxury one can ignore. Manufacturability and yield are now one and the same and are no longer a fabrication, packaging, and test concerns; they are the concern of the whole IC community. Yield and... |
 |
Nanoscale Magnetic Materials and Applications by J. Ping Liu (Editor), Eric Fullerton (Editor), Oliver Gutfleisch (Editor), D.J. Sellmyer (Editor) Nanoscale Magnetic Materials and Applications covers exciting new developments in the field of advanced magnetic materials. Readers will find valuable reviews of the current experimental and theoretical work on novel magnetic structures, nanocomposite magnets, spintronic materials, domain structure and domain-wall motion, in addition to nanoparticles and patterned magnetic recording media. Cutting-edge applications in the field are described by leading experts from academic and industrial communities. These include new devices based on domain wall motion, magnetic sensors derived from both giant and tunneling magnetoresistance, thin film devices in micro-electromechanical systems, and nanoparticle applications in biomedicine. In addition to providing... |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |