Nanoporous Hybrid Photo-catalysts for Sustainable Chemical Processes

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This project, performed by the research group of Professor Cynthia Friend at Harvard University and funded through the Chemical Catalysis program in the Division of Chemistry at NSF, aims at understanding how to design new types of materials that have the potential to improve energy efficiency and to reduce the amounts of noxious pollutants in the air. The overall goal of this work is to explore the potential for harnessing sunlight to drive chemical reactions important in reducing energy use and improving the environment. The project is focused on understanding how to capture the energy in visible light using small structures (nanostructures) of metals and to use that energy for chemical reactions. Training of members of the next-generation scientific workforce will also be achieved through this interdisciplinary research.The research will uniquely focus on versatile nanoporous materials because of the potential for fuller utilization of solar energy through plasmonic excitations that span the solar spectrum and because they are structurally robust. Model systems, consisting of Ag (Au) nanoparticles supported on titanium oxide(110), will also be investigated using a combination of theory, molecular-scale imaging, and reactivity studies. The investigation of these model systems will elucidate how important system properties (for example, the alignment of the electronic states of the acceptor reactant molecules or the semiconductor overlayer with the SPR excitations, the spatial extent of the SPR excitation, the size and thickness of the semiconductor layer) affect the photo-induced processes. Understanding of the reactivity of chemicals that are either volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) or key reactants in chemical synthesis will be the focus of the work.