Artificial Photosynthesis Using Semiconductor Nanomaterials

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Shining different lights on photocatalysis

The mitigation of steadily increasing atmospheric CO2 might well be the major global scientific challenge of the twenty-first century. Carbon capture is an important issue in Alberta, a jurisdiction with a large carbon footprint. The use of CO2 as a feedstock for energy storage is also of interest. An efficient sunlight-driven CO2 reduction process that produces alcohols or hydrocarbons from H2O+CO2 can store energy in the form of chemical bonds - an alternative to hydrogen-based energy storage. Natural photosynthesis is the chemical reaction on which life is based, but is inefficient in terms of conversion of light into chemical energy (global efficiency ~0.2%). Semiconductor nanomaterial-based artificial photosynthesis will enable efficiencies several times higher than natural photosynthesis. Artificial photosynthesis is complex with eight electron transfer steps, thus rendering the reaction vulnerable to energetic losses at every step. The mechanistic routes governing the formation of desirable end-products are not fully established. And yet, there is huge potential; the combination of government levied carbon taxes (ALBERTA: currently $20/tonne of CO2, set to increase to $30/tonne by 2018 and CANADA: $50/tonne of CO2 by 2020) and highly efficient catalysts can render CO2 reduction profitable in the not-too-distant future. Companies that package and sell carbon offsets to big and small CO2 emitters are very interested in this technology.

Project Files

2D C-N Semiconductors: Graphitic, Earth-Abundant Photocatalysts with Tunable Bandgaps

Karthik Shankar, Ujwal Thakur, Pawan Kumar, Ehsan Vahidzadeh

Conference/Workshop

Anodic Fabrication of n- and p-type Metal Oxide Nanostructures on Non-Native Substrates

Karthik Shankar, Ryan Kisslinger, Ujwal Thakur, Saralyn Riddell

Conference/Workshop

Artificial Photosynthesis Using Semiconductor Nanomaterials

Status

Theme

Principal Investigator

Co-Investigator

Graduate students, Post-Doctoral Fellows, and Highly Qualified Personnel

Alumni

Faculties

Project Files

T12 P02 Poster 2 2017 Open House

T12 P02 Poster 1 2017 Open House

T12 P02 KumarP Poster 2018 Symposium

T12 P02 ZengS Poster 2018 Symposium

2D C-N Semiconductors: Graphitic, Earth-Abundant Photocatalysts with Tunable Bandgaps

Anodic Fabrication of n- and p-type Metal Oxide Nanostructures on Non-Native Substrates

Application of One Dimensional Metal Oxides as Electron transport layer for High Efficiency Halide Perovskite Solar Cells (HPSCs)

Application of TiO2 Nanotubes and Nanowires in Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Atomistic insights on Halide Composition in Mixed Halide Perovskite Systems: 207Pb solid-state NMR perspective

Au-Nanoparticle Embedded TiO2 Nanotube Arrays for Sensing, Photocatalysis and Nonlinear Optics

CO2 photoreduction using earth abundant transition metal oxides & chalcogenides

CO2 reduction performance of TiO2 nanotube-based heterojunction photocatalysts

Chalcogenide Semiconductor Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Applications

Charge Separation and Transport in Functional Heterojunctions Based on Solution-Grown TiO2 Nanotube & Nanowire Arrays

Charge-accumulation-induced mixed photocorrosion in the Z-scheme PEC system

Copper Sulfide Nanostructures and their utility in Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Core-shell titanium dioxide@titanium nitride nanotube arrays for optical limiters and near-infrared sensitive optoelectronics

Doped Graphene and Graphenic Semiconductors: Mass Producible, Earth- Abundant Materials for Photocatalysis and Photovoltaics

Earth abundant 1D & 2D nanomaterial sensitized TiO2 nanotube arrays for visible light driven water-splitting

Enhancing Photocatalyst and Solar Cell Performance Using Nanophotonic Effects

Exploiting Nanophotonics and Plasmonic Hot Electrons for the Production of Solar Fuels

Flame Annealed TiO2 and its Heterojunctions for the Production of Solar Fuels

Helped organize the 2D Materials symposium at ICEE'2020

High Selectivity CO2 Photoreduction Using Earth Abundant Semiconductor Photocatalysts

High Voc halide perovskite solar cells using optimized charge transport layers

Highly Structured Nanomaterials for High Performance Photocatalysts and Solar Cells

MITACS Globalink Summer Intern from Germany

MITACS Globalink Summer Intern from India

New frontiers in the anodic synthesis of self-organized TiO2 nanotube arrays

Novel Materials for Clean and Sustainable Energy CHALLENGE PROGRAM WORKSHOP

One-Dimensional Solution-Processed TiO2 Nanostructures for Use in Photovoltaics, Photocatalysis, and Microwave Resonator Sensors

Optical Modelling of Non-Lithographically Fabricated Photonic Crystal- and Plasmonic- Photocatalysts

Plasmon-Enhanced Semiconductor Photocatalysis: Using Hot Electrons to Drive Chemical Reactions

Plasmonic Photonic Crystal Photocatalysts Consisting of TiO2 Nanotube Arrays Decorated/Embedded with Noble Metal Nanoparticles

Preferentially Oriented Zn-Doped TiO2 Nanotubes Grown on Non-Native Substrates

Robust Plasmonic Glasses using nanoporous TiO2 embedded with Au nanoparticles

SERB Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship

SERC Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship

Solution Processed Earth-Abundant Semiconductor Nanostructures for Sensing, Photocatalysis and Photovoltaics

TiO2 Nanotube - Noble Metal Nanoparticle Heterojunction Photocatalysts for CO2 Reduction

TiO2 nanotube and nanorod arrays: Playgrounds to study unusual heterojunctions, hot electron phenomena and nanophotonic effects

UARE Summer Student from India

Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics of CdS Nanowires Wrapped In C3N5 Nanosheets

Use of Periodic Pulses and Non-Native Substrates to Form Nanoporous Metal Oxide Films By Anodization

Visible Light Driven Photocatalysts Based on New Graphenic Semiconductors and Their Heterojunctions

Visible Light Responsive, Earth-Abundant Heterojunction Photocatalysts

Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship

Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship

Alberta Innovates Graduate Scholarship

Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship

Doctoral Recruiting Scholarship

Doctoral Recruiting Scholarship

Doctoral Recruiting Scholarship

E-MRS 2019 Best Poster Award (Symposium N)

FGSR Doctoral Prize of Distinction

Faculty of Engineering NSERC Scholarship Supplementary Award

Graduate Recruitment Scholarship

MITACS Globalink Research Award

NSERC CGSD Scholarship

NSERC CGSD Scholarship

NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA)

NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA)

NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA)

NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA)

NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA)

NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA)

A Rational Design of Cu2O-SnO2 Core-Shell Catalyst for Highly Selective CO2-to-CO Conversion

A Review on Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction using Perovskite Oxide Nanomaterials

All-solid-state formation of titania nanotube arrays and their application in photoelectrochemical water splitting

Arrays of TiO2 nanorods embedded with fluorine doped carbon nitride quantum dots (CNFQDs) for visible light driven water splitting

Artificial Neural Network-Based Prediction of the Optical Properties of Spherical Core\textendash Shell Plasmonic Metastructures

Vapor growth of binary and ternary phosphorus-based semiconductors into TiO₂ nanotube arrays and application in visible light driven water splitting