Descrizione del progetto
Esplorare il mondo atomico delle nanoparticelle rivestite di grafene
La sfida di progettare, caratterizzare e comprendere le proprietà di una nuova famiglia di particelle a livello atomico è un compito complesso e impegnativo che richiede conoscenze e competenze interdisciplinari avanzate. Finanziato dal Consiglio europeo della ricerca, il progetto GRANN è un’iniziativa di ricerca interdisciplinare che mira a sintetizzare una nuova famiglia di nanoparticelle monostrato rivestite di grafene e nanogrammi di grafene di alta qualità. Si studieranno la loro attività catalitica, la stabilità chimica e le caratteristiche ottiche per un potenziale utilizzo nella catalisi industriale, nelle celle solari e nella chimica interstellare. Il progetto riunirà le competenze della scienza delle superfici, dell’ottica, della nanoscienza e dell’astrofisica per sviluppare nuovi sistemi potenzialmente in grado di costituire i primi modelli di laboratorio delle nanoparticelle catalitiche per la chimica di superficie interstellare.
Obiettivo
In a truly cross-disciplinary research project encompassing surface science, optics, nano-science, astrophysics and chemistry we will synthesize a novel family of high quality mono-layer graphene coated nanoparticles and graphene nanograins with new chemical and optical properties and investigate their catalytic activity, chemical stability and optical characteristics to gauge their relevance for and applicability in industrial catalysis, solar cells, and interstellar chemistry.
This will be accomplished by extending existing expertise, knowledge and methods developed by us and by international colleagues for graphene synthesis, graphene reactivity and chemical functionalization, graphene coatings on industrially relevant samples and interstellar surface astrochemistry on carbonaceous materials, into the nanoparticle regime. Combined with state-of-the-art surface science characterization methods with emphasis on scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and thermal desorption mass spectrometry, complemented by Raman and transmission spectroscopy, this will enable us to design, characterize, and understand the properties of this new family of particles at the atomic level.
The vision is to harness and combine the remarkable properties of graphene and nanoparticles to create systems with entirely new and unexplored characteristics, to tune these characteristics to be useful for real-world applications, and to exploit the new systems as the first realistic laboratory models of catalytic nanoparticles for interstellar surface chemistry.
This ambitious and cross-disciplinary research program will predominantly take place at the Surface Dynamics Laboratory at Aarhus University which is headed by the applicant, but will also involve local, national and international collaborators.
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialstwo-dimensional nanostructuresgraphene
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopyelectron microscopy
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysis
- natural scienceschemical sciencesanalytical chemistrymass spectrometry
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopy
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantIstituzione ospitante
8000 Aarhus C
Danimarca