研究目的

Investigating the development of efficient solar energy conversion systems, specifically focusing on water splitting into H2 and O2, through the design of hybrid photocatalytic platforms.

研究成果

The Account describes a rich sandbox for tuning semiconductor heterostructures to meet the stringent constraints of photocatalytic water splitting, which has allowed for realization of outstanding performance across two generations of heterostructures. The ability to position stereoactive lone-pair states through soft chemical methods provides a powerful means of tuning the energetics and dispersion of mid-gap states, enabling close overlap with chalcogenide-derived valence-band edges of light-harvesting QDs. Viable photocatalysts for water splitting have been prepared with high faradaic efficiencies for H2 production and continue to be improved in an evolutionary manner exploiting the multiple compositional, structural, and interfacial degrees of freedom available in these constructs.

研究不足

The complexity of the multidimensional parameter space represents a daunting challenge, which is difficult to resolve using a purely Edisonian approach. The accuracy of electronic structure calculations, accessing crystallographically matched interfaces, and designing structured ternary heterostructures remain areas of ongoing work.