Speaker
Description
Artificial photosynthesis is a direct and promising option to store solar light as sustainable hydrogen fuel. However, the water oxidation half reaction remains a serious bottleneck for applications and a major challenge for catalyst design. To this end, we pursue a three-pillar approach. (1) Bio-inspired strategies: Our recent progress includes tailored cobalt cubane cut-outs of oxide catalyst surfaces or unraveling new soft-templating strategies in a high-performance electrocatalyst.[1] (2) Targeted nanomaterials design: We established facile pathways to environmentally friendly InP/ZnS quantum dots for hydrogen production or to transition metal electrocatalyst-carbon nanotube architectures.[2, 3] (3) Monitoring the synthetic and operational pathways of water oxidation catalysts: We obtained new insight into the operando properties of unconventional non-oxide electrocatalysts and into unexpected formation pathways of cobalt oxide nanocatalysts.[4] Furthermore, we pursue overarching concepts to bridge molecules and solids in artificial photosynthesis, e.g. through hybrid photoanodes and single atom catalysts on graphene supports. These strategies will finally be contrasted with our work on oxide materials for solar-driven thermochemical CO2 splitting.[5]
[1] F. Song, K. Al-Ameed, M. Schilling, T. Fox, S. Luber, G. R. Patzke, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b01356.
[2] S. Yu, X.-B. Fan, X. Wang, J. Li, Q. Zhang, A. Xia, S. Wei, L.-Z. Wu, Y. Zhou, G. R. Patzke, Nat. Comm. 2018, 9, 4009.
[3] W. Wan, S. Wei, J. Li, C. A. Triana, Y. Zhou, G. R. Patzke, J. Mater. Chem. A 2019, in print.
[4] R. J. Müller, J. Lan, K. Lienau, R. Moré, C. A. Triana, M. Iannuzzi, G. R. Patzke, Dalton Trans. 2018, 47, 10759.
[5] R. Jacot, J. M. Naik, R. Moré, R. Michalsky, A. Steinfeld, G. R. Patzke, J. Mater. Chem. A 2018, 6, 5807.
