| Affiliations: | chemistry, material science, engineering, horticulture |
| Project Leader: | Hannah Drake hfd100@tamu.edu Chemistry |
| Faculty Mentor: | Dr. Hong-Cai Zhou, Ph.D. |
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Meeting Times:
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once weekly in 1126 chemistry, determined by student avaliability per semester |
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Team Size:
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6 (Team Full) |
| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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Materials Design, Experimental Setup, hands on experience with fabrication, gas sorage handling systems, solvothermal synthesis
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Team Needs:
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I will require a team of undergraduate researchers capable of performing device fabrication and testing. Additionally the team members should show interest in synthesizing porous materials, specifically metal-organic frameworks, and testing their gas adsorption capabilities. This project is chemistry and materials science focused, but the students involved to not necessarily need to have exceptionally strong chemistry backgrounds. Creative and driven students of engineering, chemical, materials, and other scientific backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
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Description:
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The Martian atmosphere, being comprised of 95% carbon dioxide, could be an ideal environment for plant growth. Unfortunately, the atmosphere of Mars is much thinner than that on Earth, with the total atmospheric pressure of Mars being 6 mbar. As such, in order to utilize the atmospheric carbon dioxide for plant growth there needs to be a method of pressurizing this gas. One potential solution is to use the adsorptive powers of porous materials, namely metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). MOFs are highly crystalline, porous materials consisting of metal nodes connected by organic linkers. MOFs are frequently studied for their gas adsorption capabilities due to their high surface areas, with many having exceptionally high carbon dioxide affinities even at 6 mbar. The adsorption affinity and total adsorbed gas content of a MOF is inversely proportional to the temperature of adsorption. As such, decreasing the temperature at which adsorption occurs will result in an increase in the total amount of gas adsorbed. Due to its thin atmosphere, Mars does not retain heat particularly well, undergoing substantial temperature swings between day and night. This swing may range from -80 °C at night to 20 °C during the day. For this project, we aim to develop a testing enclosure which will consist of two distinct and separate chambers. The first will require a cooling apparatus capable of achieving Martian nighttime temperatures (-70-80 °C) with a vacuum seal to allow for the controlled introduction of 6 mbar of carbon dioxide. The second chamber will be at atmospheric pressure and will contain a sensor capable of recording the carbon dioxide concentration as well as a plant we will attempt to grow in phase two of the project. Between these two chambers, we will construct a sample box containing the MOF. This chamber will be designed to be shuttled between the two sides allowing us to capture and release the carbon dioxide from the desired sites.
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