Construction of nanoreactors for confined synthesis of new materials

Confined synthesis is a powerful method to controllably synthesize materials with desirable structure, morphology, and dimension.

Different from most studies which focused on confined synthesis using existing templates, the ambition of the present project is to design and construct 2 dimensional (2D) nanoreactors with different sizes, geometries, and chemical environment, which will provide enormous opportunities to discover and optimize the tailorable multi-materials for different applications.

This project will deliver an ideal platform to investigate how the varieties of 2D nanoreactors influence the structures and properties of confinement synthesized nanomaterials, which otherwise cannot be realized using fixed templates.

Followed by the successful construction of various nanoreactors, a series of innovative electrode materials (e.g., high entropy metal oxide, layered polymers) with novel structure will be synthesized for high-performance aqueous rechargeable battery (ARB), with the aims to address the low utilization, poor conductivity, and sluggish electrochemical activity in ARB.

Two fundamental questions will be answered: (i) how the confinement effect affects the formation of 2D active materials in different 2D nanoreactors; (ii) how the confinement effect influences the electrochemical activity of as-prepared new materials.

This project will provide a powerful tool to discover new materials for different applications, with a big impact on different research fields.