Chemistry of Photocatalysts and Photocatalysis

有了这一续期奖，有机和高分子化学项目继续支持爱荷华州艾姆斯州立大学化学系威廉·詹克斯教授的工作。这项研究将扩大PI在二氧化钛基光催化剂和光催化领域的研究。二氧化钛光催化降解水中有机污染物是一个非常有吸引力的概念，其基础是光催化剂吸收光，几乎任何有机化合物都可以完全矿化，只需水和氧气作为试剂。否则，顽固的污染物会转化为二氧化碳、水和无机离子。这项研究将使用化学探针来了解对二氧化钛催化剂进行各种改性的效果。PI将开发一系列有机探针分子，其特征化学反应能力是诊断不同类型的氧化反应机理，从而诊断二氧化钛表面的反应部位。通过这种方式，这些研究人员将能够区分导致有机分子光降解的两种基本反应机制。这些方法将应用于一系列二氧化钛催化剂，以更好地了解决定反应机理和效率的催化剂的特性。这些研究结果将有助于理解使某些光催化比其他催化剂更成功的那些物理性质，并将导致设计新的和更好的催化剂来去除水中的有害有机污染物。这项研究包括有机和无机合成、计算化学和产品分析，将导致对精通实验设计的科学家的广泛培训。将本科生纳入这项研究项目，将为这些人提供重要的机会。

With this renewal award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program continues its support of the work of Professor William Jenks of the Department of Chemistry at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The research will extend the PI's research in the area of titanium dioxide based photocatalysts and photocatalysis. Titanium dioxide mediated photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in water is an extremely attractive concept, based on the idea that a photocatalyst absorbs light and enables the total mineralization of nearly any organic compound using only water and oxygen as reagents. Otherwise recalcitrant pollutants are converted to carbon dioxide, water, and inorganic ions. This investigation will use chemical probes to understand the effects of various modifications to titanium dioxide catalysts. The PI will develop a series of organic probe molecules whose characteristic chemical reactivity is diagnostic of different types of oxidative reaction mechanisms, and thus reactive sites on the surface of titanium dioxide. In this way, these researchers will be able to distinguish between the two basic reaction mechanisms that lead to photodegradation of organic molecules. These methods will be applied to a series of titanium dioxides in order to better understand the specific characteristics of the catalyst that determine the reaction mechanism and its efficiency.The results of these investigations will greatly assist in the understanding of those physical properties that make certain photocatalysis more successful than others and should lead to the design of new and superior catalysts for removal of harmful organic contaminants from water. This research, which includes organic and inorganic synthesis, computational chemistry, and product analysis, will lead to broad training of scientists well versed in experimental design. The incorporation of undergraduate students, many from underrepresented groups in science, into this research project will provide important opportunities for these individuals.