International Collaboration in Chemistry - Modular microtubular architectures for photo-driven water splitting
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Chemistry
Abstract
The world's present energy requirements are set to double by 2050, and although this increased demand could, in principle, be met by fossil fuels (currently the source of over 70% of our energy), the increased CO2 output would undoubtedly have deleterious consequences.An alternative solution is to harness the abundant energy that comes from the sun: the amount of solar energy that strikes the surface of the earth each hour is more than mankind currently uses each year. Research on all aspects of solar energy capture has increased considerably in recent years because the technical establishments as well as government and business sectors realize both the pressing need and the extraordinary opportunity that exists in the development of green, sustainable sources of energy. Photovoltaic (PV) devices are increasingly competitive based on efficiency, production costs and operating lifetime. Specifically, the best single crystal Si-based PV devices are up to 22% efficient but are currently prohibitively expensive for large-scale use. In contrast, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are only about half this efficient but have the potential to be produced in quantity at far lower cost. However, these and other developing PV technology is limited to generation and storage of electrical energy, and while battery technology is improving, the energy density (weight and molar energy density) in our current batteries is far lower than what is available in fuels. This is why much activity at present is aimed at the direct production of fuel using sunlight. There is, of course, one process already known on Earth that achieves production of "solar fuel" - photosynthesis - although even this process, optimized over billions of years, is less then 1% efficient for most terrestrial plants. It is important therefore to consider every possible route towards harnessing solar energy to produce fuels. In this work we will use a novel range of molecular metal oxides, which have already been shown to be promising catalysts for the oxidation and splitting of water in to hydrogen and oxygen and therefore potentially of use for the generation of solar fuels, by the direct combination with dye-units that can transfer the suns energy to molecular oxide. This will exploit the recent discoveries of the US group (very fast water oxidation with a metal oxide catalyst) and the UK group (growth of microscale tubular architectures when the metal oxide is combined with the dye-cation). This means it is possible to 'grow' catalytic heterostructures that could convert sunlight into fuels on surfaces in with high surface area and robustness opening up a whole new area of science and application to 'fossil' free energy solutions.
Planned Impact
Ensuring a stable energy supply is the central challenge of the 21st century, and this team will highlight the importance of the problem and prepare the next generation of scientists. In additional to the technical goals, this project is envisaged to have broader impacts in four distinct domains:
1. The successful completion of the scientific goals of this program will transform thinking about catalysis using heterostructured metal oxides derived from molecular building blocks by creating independent modules for studying and optimizing the light and dark processes. These modules, as well as the platform for testing them as a system, will be freely shared with other researchers.
2. Students and RAs will be important stakeholders in team. Furthermore, the proposed project offers extraordinary training opportunities to students at all levels. Unique to this project is the combination of skills between Glasgow and Emory to create a world leading team in molecular metal oxides and catalysis for the formation of new heterostructured surfaces for solar fuel production.
3. The team exemplifies the globalization of science and will serve as a model for collaboration between the NSF and the EPSRC. Recognizing the importance of international collaboration, we have carefully constructed a trans-Atlantic administrative structure to foster close ties and included funds in the budget to support exchange of scientific personnel between laboratories.
4. Dissemination of scientific results will be crucial to this project, both to push the boundaries of solar-fuel research and engage the public in understanding a crucial problem. The geographic disparity of the participants provides a unique opportunity to develop web-based solar-fuel resources to engage the international community.
1. The successful completion of the scientific goals of this program will transform thinking about catalysis using heterostructured metal oxides derived from molecular building blocks by creating independent modules for studying and optimizing the light and dark processes. These modules, as well as the platform for testing them as a system, will be freely shared with other researchers.
2. Students and RAs will be important stakeholders in team. Furthermore, the proposed project offers extraordinary training opportunities to students at all levels. Unique to this project is the combination of skills between Glasgow and Emory to create a world leading team in molecular metal oxides and catalysis for the formation of new heterostructured surfaces for solar fuel production.
3. The team exemplifies the globalization of science and will serve as a model for collaboration between the NSF and the EPSRC. Recognizing the importance of international collaboration, we have carefully constructed a trans-Atlantic administrative structure to foster close ties and included funds in the budget to support exchange of scientific personnel between laboratories.
4. Dissemination of scientific results will be crucial to this project, both to push the boundaries of solar-fuel research and engage the public in understanding a crucial problem. The geographic disparity of the participants provides a unique opportunity to develop web-based solar-fuel resources to engage the international community.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Leroy Cronin (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Anamimoghadam O
(2015)
Electronically Stabilized Nonplanar Phenalenyl Radical and Its Planar Isomer.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Angelone D
(2020)
Convergence of multiple synthetic paradigms in a universally programmable chemical synthesis machine
in Nature Chemistry
Bloor LG
(2016)
Solar-Driven Water Oxidation and Decoupled Hydrogen Production Mediated by an Electron-Coupled-Proton Buffer.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Bloor LG
(2014)
Low pH electrolytic water splitting using earth-abundant metastable catalysts that self-assemble in situ.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Cameron JM
(2016)
Investigating the Transformations of Polyoxoanions Using Mass Spectrometry and Molecular Dynamics.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Cameron JM
(2013)
Synthesis and characterisation of a lanthanide-capped dodecavanadate cage.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Caramelli D
(2018)
Networking chemical robots for reaction multitasking.
in Nature communications
Caramelli D
(2018)
Networking Chemical Robots Using Twitter for #RealTimeChem
Cereda A
(2014)
A bioelectrochemical approach to characterize extracellular electron transfer by Synechocystis sp. PCC6803.
in PloS one
Chen J
(2017)
Design and Performance of Rechargeable Sodium Ion Batteries, and Symmetrical Li-Ion Batteries with Supercapacitor-Like Power Density Based upon Polyoxovanadates
in Advanced Energy Materials
Chen JJ
(2018)
Highly reduced and protonated aqueous solutions of [P2W18O62]6- for on-demand hydrogen generation and energy storage.
in Nature chemistry
Chen JJ
(2015)
High-Performance Polyoxometalate-Based Cathode Materials for Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries.
in Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Chisholm G
(2014)
3D printed flow plates for the electrolysis of water: an economic and adaptable approach to device manufacture
in Energy Environ. Sci.
Cogdell R
(2014)
Artificial photosynthesis - solar fuels: current status and future prospects
in Biofuels
Cogdell RJ
(2012)
Learning from photosynthesis: how to use solar energy to make fuels.
in Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences
Dragone V
(2017)
An autonomous organic reaction search engine for chemical reactivity.
in Nature communications
Duros V
(2017)
Human versus Robots in the Discovery and Crystallization of Gigantic Polyoxometalates.
in Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)
Endo D
(2012)
Molecular Motions and Hydrogen-Bonding Networks in ( o -Aminoanilinium)-(Crown Ethers)-[PMo12O40]4- Crystals
in Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan
Granda JM
(2018)
Controlling an organic synthesis robot with machine learning to search for new reactivity.
in Nature
Grizou J
(2020)
A curious formulation robot enables the discovery of a novel protocell behavior.
in Science advances
Gromski P
(2019)
How to explore chemical space using algorithms and automation
in Nature Reviews Chemistry
Kirkaldy N
(2018)
A practical, organic-mediated, hybrid electrolyser that decouples hydrogen production at high current densities.
in Chemical science
Kitson PJ
(2016)
The digital code driven autonomous synthesis of ibuprofen automated in a 3D-printer-based robot.
in Beilstein journal of organic chemistry
Description | Creation of a spin-out company, Astrea, described elsewhere |
Exploitation Route | We have developed a scalable, efficient solar energy-harvesting systems capable of operating at low light intensity represents one of the greatest scientific challenges today. Described in papers and patented the system. |
Sectors | Construction Creative Economy Energy Environment |
Description | This research has tackled directly a problem of great academic, industrial and global significance - namely the direct conversion of solar energy and carbon dioxide / water to methanol. The research has been substantial for academic interest to groups interested in energy transfer and solar cells, as well as photosynthesis and the direct production of solar fuels. The results of this research have now (2021) expanded into utilising these materials for energy storage and we have recently reported the use of one of our POMs to store up to 18 moles of electrons per mole of POM. In addition we have ongoing research in the hybrid POMs utilised above for the creation of redox active peptides. Importantly, one of the key researchers on this projects was awarded a URF for his work on energy materials during this project and has been promoted to Senior Lecturer, running his own research group on these topics. |
First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
Sector | Chemicals,Creative Economy,Education,Energy,Environment |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal Economic Policy & public services |
Company Name | Astrea Power |
Description | Astrea Power develops technology which utilises electrolysis for hydrogen generation. |
Year Established | 2015 |
Impact | just started |