Metal catalyst enabled chemical processing produces the majority of products that we use in everyday life, from food, textiles, biodegradable plastics, pharmaceuticals, to environmentally safer fuels. Catalyst poisoning not only reduces the efficiency of these catalysts but also increases the demand for them.
Depoisoning catalysts can not only improve the efficiency and sustainability of chemical processing but also address the lesser known yet serious fact that many catalysts are sourced from minerals mined in countries struggling with political instability, where the extraction of minerals is linked to environmental damage, violence, and human rights abuses.
Atomic layer etching (ALE) was developed in recent years to address critical needs in nano-electronics fabrication where precision in patterning is required to integrate novel metal and metal alloys in nano-electronics, nano-photonics, spintronics, and sensors. Interestingly, many of the materials requiring nano-scale patterning have been used as catalysts. While a chemical reaction leading to the formation of a strongly chemisorbed species is considered poisoning in catalysis, it is a necessary step in initiating atomic layer etching of metals.
The feasibility of utilizing ALE to de-poison catalysts is based on strong and selective chemical reactions on the surfaces of metals. By identifying a chemical reaction that can form strong chemical bonds, thereby modifying an atomically thin surface layer to form a new compound, a distinct chemical contrast can be created to allow one atomic layer of the modified surface to be selectively removed, leaving behind the unmodified material.
This presentation will focus on the intersection of two interdisciplinary research areas for nano-electronics and catalysis, leveraging what was achieved in ALE of metals to help de-poison/regenerate the catalysts. The specific example focuses on Cu as a catalyst for CO2 reduction, where sulfur and carbon poisoning (coking) are considered as two major deactivation processes. The discussion will demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing ALE to remedy catalyst poisoning and make the catalytic processing more sustainable. In addition, the site specificity in these ALE reactions can help regenerate the preferred sites for catalytic reactions.
Dr. Jane P. Chang is a professor and the William F. Seyer Chair in Materials Electrochemistry in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. Her research focuses on the synthesis and chemical processing of novel and multifunctional materials, atomistic understanding of solid-state interfaces, and their applications in microelectronics, optoelectronics, microsensors, and energy storage devices. She is the author of 144 journal publications, including a book and a book chapter, holds 4 U.S. patents, and has given more than 200 invited presentations at many international conferences, academic institutions, and industry around the world.
She received the Faculty Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation in 2000, a Chancellor’s Career Development Award from UCLA in 2000, the Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research in 2003, the AVS Peter Mark Award in 2005, the AVS PSTD Plasma Prize in 2018, and the UCLA Engineering’s University Service Award in 2022. She also received the TRW Excellence in Teaching Award in 2002 and the Professor of the Year Award from the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at UCLA in 2003, 2004, and 2009. She is a Fellow of AVS and AIChE, and a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard in 2023-2024.