This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project seeks to develop nanoconstructs with catalytic activity which is controllable via an external trigger. Nanoscale metal oxides have unique properties that will be leveraged to change the catalytic activity. Nanoalloys composed of domains of free radical generators and domains of free radical scavengers can be designed to limit catalytic activity until an external control is provided, stimulating changes in the chemical structure and enhancing the catalytic activity of one domain over the other. The ability to switch the catalytic activity will enable several applications to be developed, including medical therapies. The synthesis and characterization of nanoconstructs with controllable catalytic activity and demonstration of switching capability under external stimulation will be developed. Catalytic activity of the nanoconstructs will be characterized as a function of pH, illumination, and temperature. Measurements will be correlated with composition uniformity, average composition, size, and defect concentration. As ceria is a phosphor used in solid state lighting, a secondary objective is to apply the same techniques to increase efficiency, tune the wavelength, or alter the fluorescence lifetime.
The broader impact/commercial potential will be the development of externally switchable catalysts that are large and the applications varied. Applications would include health care applications, solid state lighting, solar cell, bio-chemical sensing, and remotely triggerable catalysts. The ability to switch the nanoparticle's free radical scavenging and generating behavior will have an enormous impact on the field of nanobiotechnology and may become a necessary property to minimize the toxicity of nanoparticles uptaken in the body. Markets for selective killing of cancer cells or bacteria are potentially multi-million dollar industries. The nanoconstructs can be incorporated as phosphors into new or existing solid state lighting fixtures to improve efficiency as well as achieve desired modifications of the spectral output and light modulation. Other potential applications could include the development of water-based catalysts that can self-clean to eliminate biofouling for near room-temperature fuel cell designs, or remote biochemical sensing. Beneficiaries of the technology will be a wounded soldier, a factory worker using circadian lighting to stay alert on third shift, users of improved batteries, solar cells, or antibacterial bandages.
