Foundations for Practical Solar Fuel Schemes: Novel Photosensitizer and Catalyst Systems

实用太阳能燃料方案的基础：新型光敏剂和催化剂系统

• 批准号: 1362629
• 负责人: Stefan Bernhard
• 金额: $ 44.6万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1362629&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Foundations; Practical; Solar; Fuel; Schemes

This award in the Catalysis program in the Division of Chemistry supports the work of Professor Stefan Bernhard at Carnegie Mellon University. The proposed work focuses on the design of novel materials for the conversion of sunlight into fuels. Solar energy conversion is of great societal interest, so this project inspires students to gain chemical knowledge and to become involved in chemical research. The educational activities at the undergraduate and graduate student level will focus on the theme of renewable energy, while outreach activities for non-scientists will both educate the public on energy issues and instill excitement for science in general.Materials will be transition metal based and will address every step of catalytic fuel generation from light absorption to reductive fuel production and complementary water oxidation. For light absorption, a wide variety of dyes will be developed targeting both broad coverage of the solar spectrum and highly efficient activation of the fuel generating catalyst. Particular attention will be given to the ligation and geometry of the dyes such that they will be robust under illumination. Novel catalysts will also be envisioned exploring advanced modification of the architecture as a means of pushing the limits of performance and lifetime. Developed components will be tested in hydrogen producing catalytic systems and these systems will then be further evolved to function in the presence of the complementary water oxidation processes. It is the ultimate objective of this work to create a molecular system capable of splitting water into hydrogen fuel and oxygen using sunlight alone.

化学系催化项目的这一奖项支持卡内基梅隆大学斯特凡·伯恩哈德教授的工作。拟议的工作重点是设计将太阳光转化为燃料的新型材料。太阳能转换具有很大的社会意义，因此这个项目激发了学生获取化学知识和参与化学研究的兴趣。本科生和研究生的教育活动将集中在可再生能源的主题上，而针对非科学家的外联活动将既教育公众关于能源问题，又普遍灌输对科学的兴奋。材料将以过渡金属为基础，将涉及催化燃料产生的每一个步骤，从光吸收到还原燃料生产和补充水氧化。在光吸收方面，将开发多种染料，以覆盖广泛的太阳光谱和高效激活燃料产生催化剂。将特别注意染料的配位和几何结构，使它们在光照下具有很强的耐受性。还将设想新型催化剂探索对结构的高级修改，以此作为突破性能和寿命极限的一种手段。开发的部件将在制氢催化系统中进行测试，然后这些系统将进一步发展，以便在存在补充水氧化过程的情况下发挥作用。这项工作的最终目标是创造一个分子系统，能够仅利用阳光将水分解为氢燃料和氧气。