Development of electron beam induced deposition as a novel technique for fabrication of planar model catalyst systems.

Project Member(s): Lobo, C.

Start year: 2015

Summary: The research project that I plan to focus on aims to develop electron beam induced deposition (EBID) as a new technique for fabrication of model catalyst systems. The bimetallic catalysts that I wish to study incude Pt, CoPt and CoMo alloys and metal oxide nano particles, fabricated on a range of supports (SiO2, Al2O3, etc). The project will involve EBID fabrication of nanoporous catalytic films and nanoparticles, and characterization by surface science techniques such as XPS, SEM and TEM imaging, and synchrotron methods (particularly XANES and NEXAFS). Prior work has shown that XPS, XANES and NEXAFS are able to provide detailed information about the chemical state, structure and morphology of planar model catalysts during a wide variety of catalytic reactions. Assessment of catalytic activity will also be conducted using cyclic voltammetry and photoyield spectroscopy (PYS). This research project is aligned with the Materials Technology for Energy Efficiency (MTEE) research strength. The activity of fabricated planar model catalysts will be characterized for a number of industrially relevant processes, such as the oxidation reduction reaction in fuel cells, and applied to development of catalytic nanosensors and other devices.

Publications:

Cullen, J, Lobo, CJ, Ford, MJ & Toth, M 2015, 'Electron-Beam-Induced Deposition as a Technique for Analysis of Precursor Molecule Diffusion Barriers and Prefactors.', ACS applied materials & interfaces, vol. 7, no. 38, pp. 21408-21415.
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Toth, M, Lobo, C, Friedli, V, Szkudlarek, A & Utke, I 2015, 'Continuum models of focused electron beam induced processing', Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1518-1540.
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Keywords: electron beam induced deposition, catalysis, nanofabrication

FOR Codes: Expanding Knowledge in the Physical Sciences, Nanoscale Characterisation, Functional Materials, Nanomaterials