Controllable Synthesis of Metal Nanoparticles for Electrocatalytic Activity Enhancement - Atomically-Precise Methods for Synthesis of Solid Catalysts - page 244

possible to control NP catalysis in a more rational way. Several reactions,
including ORR, FAOR, and selective CO 2 reduction, are discussed to dem-
onstrate the promising solutions offered by the well-controlled solution
phase reaction to rational design of NP catalysts for enhancing or even op-
timizing their catalysis.
Based on the current understanding of the existing catalysts and on the
synthetic fine-tuning on NP parameters, it is now possible to: (i) funda-
mentally understand the reaction mechanisms using both theoretical cal-
culations and experimental verifications; (ii) rationally design NP structures
leveraging ligand and strain effects to maximize the activity and to reduce
the usage of noble metals; (iii) develop ecient methodology for the syn-
thesis of fully-ordered intermetallic NPs to achieve further catalytic optimi-
zations; (iv) combine the metal NPs with advanced supporting materials
such as graphene and nitrogen-doped graphene to harvest the synergistic
effect between NPs and the support to maximize NP catalytic output; and (v)
streamline the synthesis strategy for scale-up production of metal NPs. The
optimized NP catalysts will have a deep impact on our search for alternative
sources of energy, especially on energy conversions and fuel re-generation.

d n 9 r 4 n g | 5

Acknowledgements
Work at Brown University was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy,
Oce of Energy Eciency and Renewable Energy, the Fuel Cell Technologies
Program, by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Research
Oce under the Multi University Research Initiative MURI (W911NF-11-1-
0353) on 'Stress-Controlled Catalysis via Engineered Nanostructures', and by
the National Science Foundation under the Center for Chemical Innovation
'CO 2 as a Sustainable Feedstock for Chemical Commodities', CHE-1240020.

.

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