Development of New Catalysts for Energy Conversion and in-Situ Studies of Catalysis

Heterogeneous catalysis is crucial for a wide spectrum of technological fields, such as energy conversion, pollution control, and production of most chemicals. So far almost all fuels used for various transportations have been refined from crude oil in a number of heterogeneous catalytic processes. Due to the environmental impact and diminishment of fossil fuels, there is a significant drive to relinquish our dependence on fossil fuels by searching renewable or sustainable energy sources and efficiently converting them to clean energy. The conversion of new energy sources to applicable energy such as electrical energy will need entirely new catalysts which are more active and selective, and are able to be prepared from earth-abundant elements. Toward efficient conversion of new energy sources to applicable clean energy, here the proposed projects will be (1) the design of new nanocatalysts for catalytic reactions in energy conversion, (2) the development of new technologies of energy conversion, and (3) the in-situ studies of important catalytic processes in new energy conversion by in-situ surface analytical techniques.

Overall, the design of new nanocatalysts, the in-situ studies of their catalytic processes in new energy conversion, and the development of new technologies of energy conversion will significantly contribute to the on-going efforts to overcome quite challenging energy-related issues.