Design of Nanostructured Materials for Water Splitting

近年来，氢能的重要性再次被认识到，特别是由于环境问题，氢能在燃料电池中的应用。利用光催化剂将水分解(将水转化为氢气和氧气)(通过分解水将太阳能转化为清洁氢能)是一个具有挑战性的反应，因为它是解决能源和环境问题的最重要的反应之一。研究人员花费了大量精力来创造用于分解水的催化剂。然而，可商业化的高效裂水催化剂尚未见报道。在这个项目中，将设计新型的纳米结构催化剂用于水的分解。因此，各种大小、形状和形貌不同的纳米结构材料将被创造出来，并在水分解反应中进行测试，以通过电催化和光催化生产氢气和氧气。这种研究将有助于增加这一研究领域的知识，并在可再生资源的基础上发现解决世界能源问题的高效裂水催化剂。

The importance of hydrogen energy has recently been recognized again, especially for utilization in fuel cells due to the environmental issues. Water splitting (conversion of water to hydrogen and oxygen gases) using a photocatalyst (convert solar energy into clean hydrogen energy by splitting water) is a challenging reaction due to the fact that it is one of the most important reactions for solving energy and environmental problems. Researchers have spent a lot of effort on the creation of catalysts for water splitting. However, effective water splitting catalysts, which can be commercialized, have not yet been reported. In this project, novel nanostructured catalysts will be designed for water splitting. Thus, various types of nanostructured materials with different size, shape and morphology will be created and tested in water splitting reaction for the production of hydrogen and oxygen gas via electro- and photocatalysis. This kind of study will help to increase the knowledge in this research field and discover highly efficient water splitting catalysis for solving world energy problems on the basis of renewable resources.