Paving the way to commercially viable photocatalytic solar H2 production through material design

Project summary

Photocatalytic H2 production has emerged as an attractive approach for directly converting solar energy into green H2 [1]. A key advantage is avoiding the need for huge solar PV power stations and expensive electrolysers, resulting in potentially lower capital expenditures compared to PV-electrolysis [2]. However, the poor solar-to-H2 (STH) efficiency, currently between 1% and 2%, hampers its widespread application. Our preliminary techno-economic analysis suggests that increasing the STH efficiency from 1% to 5% could reduce costs by up to 75% [3]. To achieve this significant improvement, this research focuses on designing sulphide-based heterostructure photocatalysts for highly efficient, stable, and cost-effective photocatalytic solar H2 production.

Research area:

Renewable Energy – Photocatalysis

Research environment:

The student will have the opportunity to work in the Particles and Catalysis Research Group (PartCat) under the guidance of Scientia Professor Rose Amal. The student will have the access to well-equipped laboratories with experimental facilities and computational tools for photocatalysis research. The student will work in a multidisciplinary research environment and learn various functional skills to facilitate a future career in academia or industry.

Expected outcomes:

The student is expected to gain experience in nanomaterials synthesis and characterisation, as well as photocatalytic activity measurements. The project will also allow the student to collaborate with other research students, gaining valuable interdisciplinary experience. The generated knowledge and data will contribute to a peer-reviewed international journal publication. Continuing the research as a 4th year honours thesis project is possible.

Supervisors:

References

[1] Toe, C. Y., Tsounis, C., Zhang, J., Masood, H., Gunawan, D., Scott, J., Amal, R. (2021). Advancing photoreforming of organics: Highlights on photocatalyst and system designs for selective oxidation reactions. Energy Environ. Sci. 14, 1140-1175. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EE03116J

[2] Gunawan, D., Toe, C. Y., Sun, K., Scott, J., Amal, R. (2022). Improved carrier dynamics in nickel/urea-functionalised carbon nitride for ethanol photoreforming. Photochem. Photobiol. Sci. 21, 2115-2126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43630-022-00282-4

[3] Toe, C. Y., Pan, J., Scott, J., Amal, R. (2022). Identifying key design criteria for large-scale photocatalytic hydrogen generation from engineering and economic perspectives. ACS EST Engg. 2, 6, 1130-1143. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.2c00030