As the summer comes closer to an end, I am considering the next steps as I work on turning my electrocatalysis research into a published academic paper. My immediate goals to get a complete data set for my experiment are to finish identification of gas products of my reaction, analyze gas chromatography results, and finish performing calculations of faradaic efficiency, overpotential, and current density. Once I have all this information, I will need to propose a reaction mechanism to try and explain why I got the results that I did, and why my results differ from similar research studies.
My next steps are to perform in depth characterization of my nanocatalysts that are necessary for published papers of materials science and nanoscale chemistry. These include TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) and XRD (XRay Diffraction) to produce images of the nanocatalysts’ morphology, composition, and crystal structure. These facilities are located within NYU labs but are currently down due to the pandemic, so once they begin to reopen I will be able to run my samples. For my more long term research goals, I think it would be interesting to experiment with the ligands on my nanocatalysts, seeing how extremely short chain ligands (easier access for carbon dioxide molecules to react with catalyst surface) affect their efficacy and how adding amine-based ligands (amines are known for their carbon capturing abilities) affects their efficacy. I would also like to tune and experiment in the future with the diameter of the nanoparticles grown, and how their activity and selectivity changes in a matter of just a couple of nanometers.
A typical TEM scan of a nanoscale material (top) and a typical XRD scan of a nanoscale material (bottom)