New coordination complexex for solar energy conversion

加拿大公民为自己的生活水平而自豪，加拿大的生活水平经常被评为世界上最好的。加拿大丰富的资源，特别是大量的化石燃料，大大提高了我们令人羡慕的生活水平。然而，随着世界人口到2050年增长到100亿，地球上不可再生的燃料资源逐渐枯竭，除了增加大气中的温室气体成分外，对能源的需求将超过目前预计的化石燃料储量。虽然加拿大的能源储备可以在可预见的未来满足我们自己的能源需求，但它们也可能减缓我们对即将到来的世界能源危机和全球气候变化的反应，更重要的是，阻碍我们对替代能源研究的承诺。这将是一个严重的错误，因为加拿大将在未来几代人中与能源不太独立的国家相比处于科技劣势。这项发现拨款申请旨在加强加拿大在替代能源研究方面的参与，并在这一领域培养研究生和研究人员，这对加拿大未来的繁荣至关重要。我们研究的主要目标是创造人工光合装置（APD），能够从阳光中产生可用形式的能量（例如，从H2O中产生H2）。在这个过程中，我们将学到很多关于光合系统的基本过程，比如电子和能量转移。对基本过程的理解将反过来帮助我们为APD制作更好的模型。有一天，我们也许能够以低廉的价格从阳光中生产化学能源，并将其作为一种可再生资源。为了达到从水中光制氢的目的，我们需要合成光活性催化剂并分析其光物理性质。总之，这项发现资助申请和我们的配套设备资助申请将使我们能够设计和创造新的光催化剂，用于从H2O生产H2。他们还将使新学生获得APD合成和光物理分析方面的宝贵专业知识。

Canadian citizens are proud to have a standard of living that has routinely been selected as among the best in the world. The wealth of resources found in Canada, in particular the large quantity of fossil fuels, has contributed greatly to our enviable living standard. However, as the world's population grows towards 10 billion by 2050 and the Earth's non-renewable fuel sources are gradually depleted, the demand for energy will exceed currently projected fossil fuel reserves in addition to raising the greenhouse gas composition of our atmosphere. Although Canadian energy reserves may satiate our own demands for energy in the foreseeable future, they may also slow our response to the impending world energy crisis and global climate change, and more significantly, impede our commitment to alternative energy research out of complacency. This would be a grave error as Canadians would be at a scientific and technological disadvantage compared to less energy independent nations for generations to come. This discovery grant application intends to bolster Canada's involvement in alternative energy research and the concomitant training of graduate students and researchers in this area so critical to Canada's future prosperity.The main goal of our research is to create artificial photosynthetic devices (APD) capable of producing usable forms of energy from sunlight (e.g., H2 from H2O). Along the way, we will learn a great deal about the fundamental processes involved in photosynthetic systems, such as electron and energy transfer. The understanding of fundamental processes will in turn help us to produce better and better models for our APD. One day we may be able to produce chemical energy from sunlight inexpensively and as a renewable resource. In order to reach our goal of the photoproduction of H2 from water, we need to synthesize photoactive catalysts and analyze their photophysical properties. In summary, this discovery grant application and our complementary equipment grant application will allow us to design and create new photocatalysts for the production of H2 from H2O. They will also allow new students to gain valuable expertise in the synthesis and photophysical analysis of APD.