HIGH THROUGHPUT INORGANIC NANOMATERIALS DISCOVERY

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The current advancement of technology very much depends upon the discovery of new materials. It has been known for some time that combinations of elements not largely involving carbon (called inorganic materials) can have important uses in areas from electronics, computing, UV protection in products, to harnessing energy from the sun. In particular, when inorganic particles are very small, typically made of a few hundred atoms (called nanomaterials), they become can have unusual and exciting properties. The discovery of such nanomaterials very much is hampered by our inability to make these materials fast enough and then to be able to test them adequately for their properties.The proposed research seeks to develop a new way of making and discovering inorganic nanomaterials using a very fast approach. This project is seeking to discovery better nanomaterials, which can absorb the suns rays (as an free energy source), and use this energy to split water into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen (in a process known as photocatalysis). The hydrogen can then be used for powering cars or devices of the future. Such a process is important to sustain the energy requirements of mankind on this earth when our fossil fuels (e.g. oil) are exhausted.