Interfacing earth-abundant electrocatalysts with mesostructured oxide photoanodes for solar photoelectrocatalysis.

获得国家科学基金会化学部化学催化计划的这一奖项后，西雅图华盛顿大学的丹尼尔甘末林教授将在太阳能转换和以化学燃料形式储存方面开展研究。具体而言，该项目旨在解决非结晶水氧化电催化剂与晶体半导体光电极的光电化学（PEC）太阳能转换的挑战。该研究将使用制备和分析技术的结合，以更深入地了解一组复合催化剂/半导体光阳极中的界面。主要研究者（PI）将应用最先进的光电化学和光谱技术来分析这些光电极，并进一步了解表面形态，功能化和氧化还原催化之间的微观关系。PI和他的团队将寻求开发基本的结构/功能关系，以解决催化剂-半导体耦合，电子-空穴复合动力学以及此类催化剂对光电阳极电子结构的影响。这项研究将解决这一系列水氧化催化剂的电催化和光电催化反应之间的机理差异，以及性能差异。这项工作将提高PEC电池配置中这些复合光阳极的太阳能水分解效率，特别是在复合损失最严重且对能量转换效率有害的低过电位下。用于太阳能光电化学装置的具有介观结构氧化物光阳极的丰富的电催化剂，燃料该研究将促进对这种复合光电极用于光电化学太阳能转换的一般理解。这项研究将产生新的复杂材料和新的基础知识，可能会广泛影响未来的替代能源技术。该项目还将在无机，物理，电子和材料化学领域提供先进的跨学科培训，以帮助参与的本科生，研究生和博士后研究人员为未来的科学，工程和教育事业做好准备。有一个特别强调研究和教育的整合在早期的职业水平（本科，高中），通过积极参与本科生，实验和概念从这项研究纳入华盛顿大学本科课程，与教师和学生从本科院校的合作，并在西雅图地区的高中和社区学院成熟的推广活动。

With this award from the Chemical Catalysis Program of the Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation, Professor Daniel Gamelin at the University of Washington, Seattle, will carry out studies in the area of solar energy conversion and storage in the form of chemical fuels. Specifically, this project seeks to address the challenge of interfacing non-crystalline water-oxidation electrocatalysts with crystalline semiconductor photoelectrodes for photolectrochemical (PEC) solar energy conversion. The research will use a combination of preparative and analytical techniques to develop a deeper understanding of interfaces in a set of composite catalyst/semiconductor photoanodes. The principal investigator (PI) will apply state-of-the-art photoelectrochemical and spectroscopic techniques to assay these photoelectrodes and to advance understanding of microscopic relationships between surface morphology, functionalization, and redox catalysis. The PI and his team will seek to develop fundamental structure/function relationships that address catalyst-semiconductor coupling, electron-hole recombination dynamics, and the impact such catalysts have on the photoanode electronic structure. The research will address mechanistic differences between electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic responses of this family of water-oxidation catalysts, as well as performance differences. This work will improve the solar water splitting efficiencies of these composite photoanodes in PEC cell configurations, particularly at low overpotentials where recombination losses are most severe and detrimental to energy conversion efficiencies.This research will focus on interfacing non-crystalline Earth-abundant electrocatalysts with mesostructured oxide photoanodes for use in solar photoelectrochemical devices capable of splitting water that will generate hydrogen as a chemical fuel. This research will advance the general understanding of such composite photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical solar energy conversion. The research will yield new complex materials and new fundamental knowledge that could broadly impact future alternative-energy technologies. This project will also provide advanced interdisciplinary training in the areas of inorganic, physical, electro-, and materials chemistries, in order to prepare participating undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers for future careers in science, engineering, and education. There is a special emphasis on integration of research and education at the early career levels (undergraduate, high school) through aggressive involvement of undergraduates, incorporation of experiments and concepts from this research into the University of Washington undergraduate curriculum, collaboration with faculty and students from undergraduate institutions, and mature outreach activities at Seattle-area high schools and community colleges.