Coordination complexes and polymers as photosensitizers and photocatalysts for solar energy conversion

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The rapidly growing concentration of carbon dioxide, CO2, in the Earth's atmosphere requires immediate attention on many levels: environmental, political, scientific and engineering. In 2016, the concentration of CO2 surged to a record high of 403.3 ppm, up from 400 ppm in 2015, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO): the largest single year increase seen in the last 30 years! In order to combat this trend and avoid a run-away greenhouse effect, my research program aims to convert sunlight into chemical energy that is non-carbon based, thus eliminating the addition of more greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. We will use polymers made from transition metal ions to capture sunlight and transfer electrons to Cobalt catalysts to produce hydrogen gas. The hydrogen will in turn be made available for use in fuel cells to eliminate our fossil fuel dependency. ***We have extensive expertise in the areas of transition metal chemistry and photochemistry, however, we are taking our research to the next level by also degrading noxious molecules. We will use these toxic compounds as a source of electrons for the photochemical production of hydrogen. For example, there is much interest in the petrochemical industry to eliminate dihydrogen sulfide, H2S, which is a by-product produced in the millions of tons per year by petroleum extraction and purification. The agriculture and forestry industries also produce immense quantities of biomass waste such as cellulose, lignin and ligno-cellulose. We will use H2S and biomass waste as a source of electrons for hydrogen production. Once we have completed our laboratory scale scientific studies, we will expand our research to use modern high through-put techniques such as flow reactors to be able to convert more biomass waste and H2S into hydrogen using only sunlight as the source of energy for this conversion. ***Four graduate students, one post-doctoral Fellow and one undergraduate will undertake this research and train in an area crucial to the future of Canada and the World. We will also receive several students from international laboratories to help in our efforts to curb the production of CO2 by producing hydrogen from sunlight. ***My research group has access to state-of-the-art equipment available at the Université de Montréal and the associated engineering school, Polytechnique. Each student and post-doctoral Fellow will learn a variety of skills, from standard purification and characterization techniques to more advanced techniques such as X-ray diffraction. They will also learn advanced computational methods such as Density Functional Theory to be able to calculate the properties of our target molecules before we prepare them in the laboratory. Thus, the personnel involved in this research program will be well-trained, well-mentored and perfectly prepared for employment opportunities in alternative energy research and development.