CAREER: Ruthenium(II)-Cobalt(II)/Cobalt(III) Mixed-Metal Complexes for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production from Water

南密西西比大学（USM）的Alvin A. Holder教授将通过这项由化学部门化学催化项目资助的职业奖，将他在催化领域的专业知识应用于光催化剂的开发。该工作的目标是开发能够在水介质中光解制氢的改进催化剂的重要问题。它将讨论钌(II)-钴(II)/钴（III）混合金属配合物的合成和表征，并使用均相方案研究它们的光催化性能。这些光催化方案将利用还原猝灭途径，这将导致催化转化率显著提高。此外，霍尔德教授将整合并带来能量和催化的化学实验室，从哈蒂斯堡和周边地区的高中学生和教师，以及本科生和研究生在USM。这一跨学科项目将为将太阳能转化为环保、无碳、可燃化学燃料的基础知识基础做出重要贡献。此外，拟议工作的跨学科性质预计将影响不同的领域，包括合成化学，分析化学，光化学，材料化学，电化学和催化。这项研究还涉及几个教学要点，这些要点将纳入各级的教育活动，并涉及在科学和技术领域普遍代表性不足的群体。

Through this CAREER award funded by the Chemical Catalysis Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Alvin A. Holder of the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) will be applying his expertise in the area of catalysis towards the development of photocatalysts. The work targets the important problem of developing improved catalysts capable of photolytic hydrogen generation in aqueous media. It will address the synthesis and characterization of ruthenium(II)-cobalt(II)/cobalt(III) mixed-metal complexes, and investigate their photocatalytic properties using homogeneous schemes. These photocatalytic schemes will exploit reductive quenching pathways that should lead to significantly enhanced catalytic turnovers. In addition, Professor Holder will integrate and bring the chemistry of energy and catalysis in the laboratory to high school students and teachers from the Hattiesburg and surrounding areas, as well as undergraduates and graduate students at USM.This interdisciplinary project will make key contributions to the fundamental knowledge base of converting solar energy to environmentally-friendly, carbon-free, combustible chemical fuels. In addition, the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed work is expected to impact diverse fields, including synthetic chemistry, analytical chemistry, photochemistry, materials chemistry, electrochemistry, and catalysis. The research further involves several teaching points which will be integrated into educational activities at all levels, and involve groups generally underrepresented in science and technology.