Photocatalytic Approaches to Hydrogen Production from Water

Felix N.教授Castellano，化学系和光化学科学中心，保龄球绿色州立大学，是由无机，生物无机和有机化学计划的支持，以解决对可再生能源日益增长的需求，并确保全球环境的完整性。 这项工作的核心是利用分子催化剂和半导体金属氧化物纳米材料将地球太阳光子和水转化为环境友好的非碳基可燃化学燃料（氢）。 在纳米级系统中产生氢气的化学步骤的分子水平理解可以广泛应用于水裂解反应，其中水被分解为分子氧（O2）和氢（H2）。 本项目研究新型无机结构的产氢能力，其特点是广泛的光物理和光化学研究，包括激发态电子转移。 这种广泛的基于激光的研究是至关重要的，因为紧随光吸收之后的事件最终决定了激发态化学的命运，从而决定了光化学H2的产生。 拟议的工作将继续促进本科生和研究生以及博士后研究员和访问科学家的科学和专业教育。 预计在该项目中形成的新的科学见解将有助于实现为地球建立一个无害环境的能源未来的总体目标。

Professor Felix N. Castellano, Department of Chemistry and Center for Photochemical Sciences, Bowling Green State University, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program to address the growing demand for renewable energy sources and to ensure global environmental integrity. The heart of the work is concerned with converting terrestrial solar photons and water to an environmentally friendly, non-carbon based combustible chemical fuel (hydrogen) using molecular catalysts in conjunction with semiconducting metal oxide nanomaterials. A molecular level understanding of the chemical steps leading to hydrogen production in nanoscopic systems can then be broadly applied to water splitting reactions, where water is broken down into molecular oxygen (O2) and hydrogen (H2). This project investigates the hydrogen-producing capabilities of novel inorganic structures, which will be characterized by extensive photophysical and photochemical studies, including excited state electron transfer. Such extensive laser-based studies are crucial, since the events immediately following light absorption ultimately determine the fate of the excited state chemistry and thus, the photochemical H2 production. The proposed work will continue to foster the scientific and professional education of undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral associates and visiting scientists. It is anticipated that the new scientific insights developed in this project will contribute to the overarching goal of establishing an environmentally sound energy future for the planet.