The Art of Successful Photocatalysts Design

Lilac Amirav, Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

The solar-driven photocatalytic splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen is a potential source of clean and renewable fuels. However, four decades of global research have proven this multi-step reaction to be highly challenging. The design of effective artificial photo-catalytic systems will depend on our ability to observe and control an extended sequence of events for the electrons and holes that are generated following the absorption of a photon.

I will present our strategies, and most recent results, in taking photocatalyst production to new and unexplored frontiers. I will focus on unique design of innovative nanoparticles, which harness nano phenomena for improved activity, novel methodologies for the construction of sophisticated heterostructures, and techniques for mechanistic study of charge transfer pathways, all with an eye toward realizing an efficient photocatalyst for solar-to-fuel energy conversion.