Rational Design of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Sustainable Applications

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The transition toward an environmental friendly economy based on the use of renewable energy and alternative raw materials replacing fossil resources is one of the main scientific challenges of our time. Many research activities are currently directed toward the utilization of semiconductor photocatalysts, such as titanium dioxide (TiO2) to harvest the renewable solar energy and produce hydrogen. However, these conventional photocatalysts present several problems, such as high electron-hole recombination and poor absorption of visible light, which lead to low efficiencies.This project will explore the development of new photocatalytic materials for sustainable hydrogen production and CO2 conversion. Our vision is to reimagine the conventional TiO2-based photocatalytic systems to produce hydrogen from reforming of organics and convert CO2, invoking a synergistic coupling of functional materials. Success of this project will provide the scientific community with optimized catalytic systems and with promising technologies to address the environmental crises and energy shortage.The key objectives are: - Identifying the roles of surface chemistry, including band gap and nature of the active sites, in the efficiency of the photocatalysts.- Building a robust microkinetic model to predict the behaviour of the investigated reacting systems over different photocatalysts and operating conditions, and developing a screening approach.- Evaluating the activity and selectivity of the engineered photocatalysts.The PhD student participating in this research will design model catalysts with a well-defined structure and composition and develop a mechanistic understanding of the reacting processes through a combination of computational and experimental techniques.