Lee Pellegrini摄
太阳城网赌平台 化学助理教授 马提亚Waegele, whose research explores potential routes to cleaner energy sources, has received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation that will provide $675,在未来五年内，我们将在太阳城官网经费上投入1000万美元.
美国国家科学基金会的 教师早期职业发展计划 supports early-career faculty who “have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization,该基金会表示. The program is intended to prepare faculty to be leaders who integrate teaching and research.
“I feel very fortunate to receive this CAREER award from the National Science Foundation,韦格勒说. “This award will provide important support to the research going on in my lab, which was developed thanks to an NSF grant I was awarded three years ago. This new award will further the development of the lab and our research agenda.”
Waegele, 谁在2015年加入了BC化学系, is a physical chemist with research interests in electrocatalysis, a subfield of catalysis in which an electric potential is utilized to drive chemical transformations at a solid/liquid interface.
“Electrocatalysis is an intriguing approach because it can directly utilize electricity from renewable sources to facilitate chemical conversions,韦格勒说. “进一步, the electric potential enables reactions that are not easily realizable with catalysts that work by supplying heat.”
Waegele said he and his team of researchers focus on chemical systems that show the potential for the production of renewable fuels and high-value commodity chemicals. 具体地说, Waegele studies processes that convert carbon dioxide into fuels and other valuable chemicals.
“When petroleum products are burned, energy, water, and carbon dioxide are liberated. 因为它是一种温室气体, carbon dioxide is an undesirable waste product of this process,他解释道. “If we could reverse this process with the input of renewable energy, we could continue to take advantage of the benefits of petroleum products without net emission of carbon dioxide.”
In other words, Wagele said, his lab is exploring ways to recycle carbon dioxide. Such a recycling process would create what scientists call a “closed carbon cycle.” While various chemical routes of converting carbon dioxide to fuels are known, it is still not possible to carry out these processes with sufficient energy efficiency and the required degree of control, 也称为产品选择性.
“在这个太阳城官网领域, fundamental chemical questions are closely coupled to broad and global questions about sustainability that touch almost every aspect of modern society.”
有他的国家科学基金会资助, Waegele will study the interplay between a liquid electrolyte and a copper electrode. This solid/liquid junction forms a catalytically active interface.
“这个界面非常复杂，”他说. “Its catalytic properties sensitively depend on the chemical composition of the liquid and the surface structure of the electrode. What makes its study so challenging is that the interfacial characteristics evolve during reaction conditions. Central to the inquiry is how these evolving interfacial properties exert control over product selectivity during the conversion of carbon dioxide.”
The lab uses intricate measurement technologies to better understand the chemical reaction and how to control it. Waegele specializes in a technique known as surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy, 或SEIRAS. This approach utilizes the interaction between light and matter to probe molecules at the interface during catalysis. In particular, in this spectroscopic technique, the vibrations of molecules are examined. These vibrations are specific to the chemical structures of molecules and can therefore be utilized to probe chemical reactions.
Traditionally, SEIRAS and product detection are carried out separately. “The different experimental conditions that are often employed during the two experiments make it very difficult to correlate the catalytic properties of the interface with observed products,韦格勒说.
为了应对这一挑战, Waegele’s team couples SEIRAS with differential electrochemical mass spectrometry, 称为dem, a technique that probes product formation during catalysis.
“Studying the interface with SEIRAS while monitoring product formation with DEMS at the same time allows us to understand how interfacial properties give rise to the products generated,韦格勒说. “We hope that our efforts will lead to a much deeper understanding how to steer the product selectivity of this intriguing process.
“It is exciting to work in a research field that is so dynamic and relevant to one of the greatest challenges of our time,他说. “It also provides great learning opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students because in this field of study, fundamental chemical questions are closely coupled to broad and global questions about sustainability that touch almost every aspect of modern society.”
-Ed Hayward | University Communications | 2019年10月