CAREER: Development of Self-Healing Electrocatalysts via a Tunable Non-Covalent Design

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Chemical Catalysis Program of the Chemistry Division, Dr. Anna Wuttig of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago is developing a new class of electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) that are self-healing by design. The research goal is to access durable energy conversion devices, namely fuel cells, by targeting a platform based on non-covalent interactions to produce self-assembled electrocatalysts for the ORR. Advances in energy conversion and storage science hinge on the development of new strategies for electrocatalysis. Dr. Wuttig and her team members have developed a synergistic education plan to broaden the participation in electrochemistry at the undergraduate and high school levels by building electrochemistry lab-based modules designed to meet student working levels in chemistry and physics. To produce stable and self-healing ORR electrocatalysts, the Wuttig group approach merges the organic and inorganic synthesis of amphiphiles with in-situ non-covalent self-assembly of the electrocatalyst at polarized electrodes. By advancing this non-covalent synthetic technology, this research aims to (i) generate a new series of self-assembled ORR electrocatalysts containing first-row transition metals and (ii) carry out structure-function relationship studies to reveal the key structural features that are necessary for self-healing and thereby durable ORR catalysis. The Wuttig research team will work to achieve this understanding by characterizing non-covalent layer dynamics and thickness of model (noncatalytic) self-assembled layers, synthesizing self-assembled layers that contain well-defined first-row transition metal electroactive units and characterizing their ORR activity, and optimizing the stability for self-healing by tuning non-covalent interactions. 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.