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Following nature's blueprint: Artificial photosynthesis for water splitting

Research Area: Nanochemistry, physical chemistry, surface chemistry

Supervisor: Prof Thomas Nann

Description: In less than two hours, the surface of the earth receives more solar energy than the entire human population consumes within one year. Plants convert a small fraction of this energy into hydrocarbons and oxygen by oxidising water and reducing carbon dioxide:

6 CO2 + 6 H2O + light → C6H12O6 + 6 O2

Even though this process has a relatively low efficiency of about 1% [1], it enables life on earth. Our goal is to realise a device that mimics this photosynthetic process for the production of hydrogen.
Semiconductor nanocrystals (so called Quantum Dots or QDs) are excellent light absorbers for artificial photosynthesis systems [2]. We will coat photoanodes and photocathodes with QDs (and eventually catalysts) to realise solar water oxidation, reduction respectively.

This project involves:

• wet-chemical synthesis of QDs (if the candidate has an appropriate scientific background)
• coating of semiconducting electrodes with QDs
• full morphological and electrochemical characterisation of the modified electrodes
• pilot experiments towards solar hydrogen production.

Ideal candidates should have a background in chemistry, chemical engineering, chemical physics or similar.

References
[1] J. Barber, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2009, 38, 185-196.
[2] T. Nann, S. K. Ibrahim, P. Woi, S. Xu, J. Ziegler, C. J. Pickett, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 1574-1577.

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