Stabilization of Carbon Chain and Application on Metal-free Catalyst

Descripción del proyecto

Síntesis pionera de cadenas de carbono unidimensionales

El carbono elemental puede adoptar muchas formas diferentes: diamante, grafito, grafeno, fullerenos, nanotubos y carbino. El carbino es una estructura de carbono unidimensional que no se ha logrado sintetizar hasta ahora. Los investigadores predicen que las cadenas de carbono lineales tienen propiedades fundamentales extraordinarias como, por ejemplo, un módulo y rigidez mayores que el grafeno, una movilidad extremadamente alta y una banda prohibida ajustable. Los investigadores del proyecto SCCAMC, financiado por las Acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, se proponen desarrollar materiales basados en cadenas de carbono sólidas que puedan mantener su estabilidad en condiciones normales. Su diseño se optimizará para su uso en aplicaciones de pilas de combustible.

Objetivo

Carbon chain with true 1D structure attracts significant attentions and are expected to bring new knowledge in nanoscience. It is recognized that linear carbon chain owns outstanding fundamental properties such as higher modulus and stiffness than graphene, extremely high mobility and tunable band gap. However, the preparation and applications were limited by the high reactivity for hundred years. Fortunately, recent researches show the possibility to keep carbon chain exist in special condition. For instance, long linear chain encapsulated inside carbon nanotube, free standing polyyne molecules end-capped by functional group and two dimensional graphyne film made of sp-sp2 hybrid structure, et al. Now, both of basic property study and large-scale preparation of carbon chains are in progress. It is the key moment to explore the potential applications.
The goal of SCCAMC is to prepare solid carbon chain-based materials which can be stable in normal condition, and to develop the application on metal-free catalyst for fuel cell. Hence, SCCAMC will provide a common method to largely extend the use of carbon chain.
The research will prepare and enrich carbon chains in large yield. Functionalization will help to stabilize carbon chains in high concentration. By choosing different functional group, the modification of physical and chemical properties can be realized. Then it is expected to obtain stable solid materials in normal condition, which will largely extend their using realm. A standard procedure to combine large-scale preparation, enrichment, functionalization and solidification will be set up.
Furthermore, the obtained carbon chain-based materials will be used as metal-free catalyst for fuel cell after nitrogen doping. By studying on the detailed mechanism, the design of carbon chain-based materials will be optimized for different application, specifically on fuel cell in this project.