Photocatalysis with Plasmonics and Metal Oxide Clusters
Supervisor: Dr Affar Karimullah and Dr Haralampos Moiras
School: Chemistry
Description:
Using plasmonics to enhance photocatalytic activity has become a hot topic over the past decade. Our recent work has utilised chiral plasmonic systems to improve enantiomeric yield in photocatalysis and synthesis. It was done using our disposable plasmonics concept in which we can generate large amounts of plasmonic surfaces for different applications. This project will look at whether disposable plasmonics can be used to increase the efficiency of hydrogen generation through photocatalytic effects further enhanced by combining them with metal oxides. The metal oxides have recently been used to increase efficiency of hydrogen generation through electrochemical methods. The project will also use surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy to study changes in the surfaces and evaluate the overall mechanism. If successful, the project will provide proof of concept that large fields of plasmonic surfaces with metal oxide clusters can improve generation of hydrogen through solar energy.