The realization that nanoscale materials can have catalytic properties, which are intrinsic to their size, has invigorated the field of catalysis. In the area of alternative energy production, the synthesis and conversion of chemical energy is limited by the cost and activity of available catalysts. Fuel cells have not been commercialized on a large scale primarily because of the high cost of noble  metals needed to catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and (to a lesser extent) the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Less expensive and more active catalysts are needed, and the search for these catalysts in the nanoscale is underway.  Traditionally, new catalysts are found by experimental trial-and-error methods. This approach can be effective for bulk metals and simple alloys, but it becomes intractable for metal nanoparticles (NPs) where size and shape are extremely important, characterization is difficult, and alloying properties such as phase diagrams are not generally known. This talk will describe the development of new analytical tools for the systematic evaluation of the performance of NP catalysts for energy conversion and environmental remediation applications. In particular, a very simple, reliable, low cost electrochemical approach for detection of single catalytic NPs will be described to study size dispersity and catalytic activity in a fast and reproducible manner. Besides being a quantitative tool for determining catalyst size the approach has potential use in electroanalysis for detecting various analytes; and for kinetics studies of isolated single NP electrocatalysts as a function of size, shape and composition. Mechanistic details regarding the ability of these NP architectures to catalyze various electrochemical processes will be discussed.

Development of analytical tools for nanoparticle catalyst evaluation and screening

246th National Meeting (2013)

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