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    Home > Chemicals Industry > New Chemical Materials > Scientists in the three fields of chemistry, physics, quantum physics work together, and the new catalyst makes a key breakthrough in the application of hydrogen energy

    Scientists in the three fields of chemistry, physics, quantum physics work together, and the new catalyst makes a key breakthrough in the application of hydrogen energy

    • Last Update: 2022-01-12
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    According to estimates, the amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the earth within a year is greater than the sum of all the energy that we can produce using non-renewable resources
    .
    In the past few years, the technology of converting sunlight into electric energy has developed rapidly, but the biggest problem is the low efficiency of storage and distribution of this electric energy, which makes it impossible for solar energy to be applied on a large scale
    .
    Recently, researchers from the University of Virginia (UVA) Institute of Arts and Sciences, the California Institute of Technology and the U.
    S.
    Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory have made breakthroughs in this regard.
    This discovery represents a critical step towards a clean energy future
    .
    UVA Assistant Professor of Chemistry Zhang Sen (left) and Federal Professor of Chemistry T.
    Brent Gunnoe (center) are leading a research project aimed at improving the basic knowledge of new solar technology
    .
    Liu Chang (right), a fourth-year graduate student in Zhang Sen's lab, is the first author of their paper published in "Nature Catalysis"
    .
    One way to use solar energy is to use solar energy to break water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen
    .
    The hydrogen produced by this process is stored in the form of fuel, can be transferred from one place to another, and used to generate electricity on demand
    .
    A catalyst is necessary in the decomposition process of water molecules, but the current catalyst materials used in the oxygen evolution reaction process are not effective enough, because this method has not yet been practically applied
    .
    This time the above-mentioned research team developed an innovative chemical strategy.
    A group of researchers led by chemistry professors Zhang Sen and T.
    Brent Gunnoe used cobalt and titanium to produce a new type of catalyst
    .
    "The new process involves the creation of active catalytic sites at the atomic level on the surface of titanium dioxide nanocrystals.
    This technology can produce durable catalytic materials and can better initiate oxygen evolution reactions
    .
    " Zhang Sen said
    .
    "New methods of effective oxygen evolution reaction catalysts and a basic understanding of them are the key to the possible transition to the large-scale use of renewable solar energy.

    .
    Adjusting nanomaterials at the atomic level to achieve the best catalytic efficiency, thereby promoting the use of clean energy, this research is a perfect example in this regard
    .
    According to Gunnoe, “This innovation is centered on the results of Zhang Sen’s laboratory and represents a new way to improve and understand catalytic materials.
    The result involves the synthesis of advanced materials, atomic-level characterization and quantum mechanical theories.
    Combination
    .
    " "A few years ago, UVA joined MAXNET Energy, which is composed of 8 Max Planck Institute (Germany) related institutions, UVA and Cardiff University (UK), and they are committed to electrocatalytic water oxidation.
    International cooperation.

    MAXNET Energy planted a seed.
    With the joint efforts of my team and the laboratory, we have now formed an efficient and fruitful cooperation
    .
    " At Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence · With the help of Berkeley National Laboratory and its state-of-the-art synchrotron X-ray absorption spectrometer scientific user facilities, radiation can be used to examine the structure of matter at the atomic level.
    The research team found that the catalysts have a well-defined surface structure, which allows them to clearly See how the catalyst is released during the oxygen evolution reaction, and can accurately evaluate its performance
    .
    Zhou Hua, Argonne X physicist and one of the authors of this paper, said: "This work uses X-ray beam lines from Advanced Photon Source and Advanced Light Source, including a "quick access" program, which helps us explore new Scientific ideas have established a rapid feedback mechanism
    .
    We are very pleased that both national science user facilities can make substantial contributions to this ingenious and tidy work, which will make a leap in the development of clean energy technology
    .
    " Advanced Photon Source and Advanced Light Source are the US Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific User Facilities, located at Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, respectively
    .
    At the beginning of this year, in order to fight COVID-19, Argonne researchers also used the laboratory's advanced photon source to discover the structure of the virus protein through X-ray crystallography
    .
    Argonne National Laboratory in the United States.
    In addition, researchers at the California Institute of Technology can accurately predict the rate of oxygen production caused by the catalyst using the newly developed quantum mechanics method, so that the research team has a deeper understanding of the chemical mechanism of the reaction
    .
    "For more than five years, we have been developing new quantum mechanics technology to analyze the oxygen reaction mechanism, but in all previous studies, we were unable to determine the exact catalyst structure
    .
    Zhang Sen’s catalyst has a clear atomic structure, and We found that our theoretical output is essentially consistent with the observable results of the experiment
    .
    ” said William A.
    Goddard III, professor of chemistry, materials science and applied physics at the California Institute of Technology and one of the main researchers of the project.
    "This provides the first strong experimental verification for our new theoretical method, and we can now use it to predict even better catalysts
    that can be synthesized and tested .
    This is an important milestone towards global clean energy
    .
    " UVA Jill Venton, head of the Department of Chemistry, said: "UVA and other researchers have achieved interdisciplinary cooperation and made exciting discoveries in clean energy.
    This is a good example
    .
    "
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