RII Track-2 FEC: Feeding and Powering the World - Capturing Sunlight to Split Water and Generate Fertilizer and Fuels

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Non-technical descriptionThis Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-2 Focused EPSCoR* Collaboration (RII Track-2 FEC) award to the University of Mississippi includes Mississippi State University, Tulane University, and the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa as partners in a collaborative project. The project?s research focus is at the nexus of water-energy-food. It aims to develop low-cost, high-efficient methods and devices that integrate water splitting by sunlight to produce hydrogen and to reduce carbon dioxide and ammonia to generate fuels and fertilizers. The research is highly desirable for developing sustainable fuel and synthetic fertilizer technologies. This collaborative project will directly engage and train seven faculty, five postdocs, nine graduate and 14 undergraduate students, eight faculty and 16 students from community colleges, as well as 60 secondary school teachers and 10 high school students from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. The fundamental science focus of this project is anticipated to advance knowledge and technology in the water- energy-food nexus in the US gulf coast region and potentially connect with the private sector for future technology transfer and commercialization possibilities.Technical descriptionThis collaborative project among four institutions in Mississippi (MS), Louisiana (LA), and Alabama (AL) has three closely integrated sub-projects in solar photo-catalysis: (1) Production of hydrogen by splitting water ? establish low-cost and high-efficiency approaches that use sunlight and integrate plasmonic metals with semiconductors or use nanoscale carbon-oxygen-titanium catalysts and organometallic pincer complexes; (2) Reduction of carbon dioxide to methane or ethanol fuels - explore photo-electro-chemical methods that employ rhenium complexes to modify semiconductor catalysts for use in high-voltage dye sensitized solar cells; and (3) Fixation of nitrogen to produce agricultural fertilizers ? prepare catalysts with sufficient reduction potential to convert nitrogen to ammonia. The ultimate goal is to integrate catalysis technologies into a low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell that is devoid of toxic materials. The device is expected to have sufficient voltage to split water for hydrogen production and reduce carbon dioxide and nitrogen to usable fuels and fertilizers. The research is integrated with education at K-12 to collegiate levels and provides training and mentoring to junior faculty, postdocs, and students at the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, Tulane University, and the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa as well as those from Community Colleges and Historically Black Colleges and Universities in MS, LA, and AL.*Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research