title: Platinum Nanoparticle Decorated SiO2Microfibers as Catalysts for Micro Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Propulsion.
abstract: Micro unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) need to house propulsion mechanisms that are small in size but sufficiently powerful to deliver on-demand acceleration for tight radius turns, burst-driven docking maneuvers, and low-speed course corrections. Recently, small-scale hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) propulsion mechanisms have shown great promise in delivering pulsatile thrust for such acceleration needs. However, the need for robust, high surface area nanocatalysts that can be manufactured on a large scale for integration into micro UUV reaction chambers is still needed. In this report, a thermal/electrical insulator, silicon oxide (SiO2) microfibers, is used as a support for platinum nanoparticle (PtNP) catalysts. The mercapto-silanization of the SiO2microfibers enables strong covalent attachment with PtNPs, and the resultant PtNP-SiO2fibers act as a robust, high surface area catalyst for H2O2decomposition. The PtNP-SiO2catalysts are fitted inside a micro UUV reaction chamber for vehicular propulsion; the catalysts can propel a micro UUV for 5.9 m at a velocity of 1.18 m/s with 50 mL of 50% (w/w) H2O2. The concomitance of facile fabrication, economic and scalable processing, and high performance-including a reduction in H2O2decomposition activation energy of 40-50% over conventional material catalysts-paves the way for using these nanostructured microfibers in modern, small-scale underwater vehicle propulsion systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
authors.forename: Bolin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
authors.forename: Nathaniel T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Garland
authors.affiliation: Laboratories for Computational Physics and Fluid Dynamics, Code 6041, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory , 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375, United States.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Geder
authors.affiliation: Center for Bio/Molecular Science & Engineering, Code 6900, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory , 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375, United States.
authors.forename: Marius
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pruessner
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mootz
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cargill
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leners
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
authors.forename: Granit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vokshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
authors.forename: Wyatt
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University , Raleigh, North Carolina 27606, United States.|Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill/North Carolina State University , Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, United States.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Daniele
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center , Panama City, Florida 32407, United States.
authors.forename: Josh
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kogot
authors.affiliation: Center for Bio/Molecular Science & Engineering, Code 6900, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory , 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375, United States.
authors.forename: Igor L
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Medintz
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.|Research Ames Laboratory , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
authors.forename: Jonathan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Claussen
keywords: hydrogen peroxide; micro unmanned underwater vehicles; platinum nanoparticles; propulsion; silicon microfibers