For noble metal nanocrystals, lattice strain can generally cause a lattice contraction featuring a down-shift d-band center, which weakens the adsorption strength of species on the catalyst surfaces. The goal of this project is to significantly advance the development of catalytic sites with lattice strain that exists in several types of state-of-the-art nanocrystals as model systems. For example, the lattice-stressed systems can be created by de-alloying binary nano-alloys, generating property-improved electrocatalysts used for several applications including but not limited to ORR (one of the fuel cell reactions), HER and OER (reactions in water splitting), eCO2RR.

Further reading materials:

Small  17 (46) 2102244 (2021).  10.1002/smll.202102244

Chem. Rev., 121 (2) 736 - 795 (2021).   10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00436