Green and renewable energy generation from water and sunlight holds great promise to solve the present energy and environmental challenges. The fuel cell technology, which utilizes light-induced water-splitting to produce oxygen and hydrogen gases coupled with the electrochemical reaction of these gases, offers a viable approach to electricity generation directly from water and sunlight. However, catalysts are required to facilitate the electrochemistry. Platinum is the state-of-the-art catalyst, but its limited resources and high cost have restricted commercialization of these renewable energy technologies. If properly functionalized, graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms placed in a hexagonal pattern, can replace expensive platinum as a high-performance catalyst for clean and renewable energy generation from water and sunlight. However, its applications to the market are hindered by the lack of approaches for large scale production of high-quality graphene at low-cost. This research is to fill the knowledge gap on manufacturing of high-performance graphene-based catalysts for energy applications. This project is to develop a novel scalable, low-cost, and eco-friendly ball milling technology that directly transforms conventional graphite - or pencil lead - into graphene-based catalysts. This technology will pave the way for more efficient and lower-cost fuel cells and batteries (e.g., lithium-air batteries) for commercial applications.
Edge-functionalized graphene has been demonstrated as high-performance electrocatalysts for energy conversion and storage. This project aims at developing a ball milling process that directly converts bulk graphite into edge-functionalized graphene flakes. The molecular structural change during the ball milling is characterized using advanced analytic tools. In addition, molecular simulations of self-exfoliation and edge-functionalization processes are carried out using first-principles methods. Characterization and simulation tasks will be performed together to better understand the basic mechanochemical reactions and graphite-to-graphene structural evolution in ball milling, and to guide the materials and process development. The success of this project will provide a generic approach for scalable nanomanufacturing of graphene-based catalysts for energy devices, including fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Along with these research and development activities, an associated education program will be carried out to provide research training and education opportunities to all levels of students.
