(Invited) Designing Transport into Multifunctional Materials for Energy & Power

Abstract

Designing electrodes and catalytic platforms as architectures in which the entire volume of the porous “reactor” is wired continuously in three dimensions for electron, ion, and molecular transport expands the reactive electrochemical and catalytic turf beyond the limited footprint imposed by a two-dimensional cross-section or a single three-phase boundary per supported nanoparticle. Amplifying the electron/ion/molecularly wired interfacial area by hundreds of square centimeters per cross-sectional square centimeter converts redox reactions that lose morphological control at high local current density into more uniformly reactive events that experience low local current density. Similar distributed arrangement of the reacting species in architected catalytic platforms imparts resilience of the supported catalyst. Aperiodic architectures such as foams and sponges effectively distribute the available reactive, electron/ion/molecularly wired interfaces while maintaining a co-continuous mapping of void and solid to facilitate ingress/egress of reactants and products. Examples from our work with electrode architectures show the power of controlling energy-storage reactions locally by distributing them within electron-wired high-surface interiors. The arrangement ensures that per area current remains low throughout the volume of the electrode, yet the electrified area sums to provide device-relevant current. The intimate interfacial contact we achieve for copper nanoparticles supported on ceria aerogels yields active, selective, and stable architected catalysts for preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide in hydrogen feedstreams.