Colloidal Carbon Dots for Advancing Photocatalysis
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Despite recent progress in photocatalysis using carbon dots as photosensitisers, there is a lack of structural understanding at a molecular level to draw conclusive property-activity relationships, which hampers progress and application. The following aspects require particular attention and will be the focus of this PhD project:
(1) Carbon dots of controlled properties cannot currently be obtained upon pre-designed synthesis. This is because, there are no principles to correlate the structural properties of the organic precursors and that of the derived carbon dots;
(2) there is no direct correlation between the structural characteristic of carbon dots and their photocatalytic performances;
(3) the exact origin of the carbon dots photoluminescence remains currently unclear although emission contributions from the polyaromatic units of the carbon core and surface confined defect states have been reported;
(4) the energy levels of the valence and conduction bands for most carbon dot systems reported in the literature have not been accurately determined.
Ava Lage will aim to address these needs via in-depth structural characterisation of previously and newly synthesised carbon dots, which in combination with photocatalytic experiments, will allow us to draw correlations between their structural characteristics and photocatalytic efficiencies. This study will allow the adjustment of the parameters required to achieve light absorbers of substantially high photocatalytic activities, which we believe will pave the way to applications in solar fuel synthesis.
(1) Carbon dots of controlled properties cannot currently be obtained upon pre-designed synthesis. This is because, there are no principles to correlate the structural properties of the organic precursors and that of the derived carbon dots;
(2) there is no direct correlation between the structural characteristic of carbon dots and their photocatalytic performances;
(3) the exact origin of the carbon dots photoluminescence remains currently unclear although emission contributions from the polyaromatic units of the carbon core and surface confined defect states have been reported;
(4) the energy levels of the valence and conduction bands for most carbon dot systems reported in the literature have not been accurately determined.
Ava Lage will aim to address these needs via in-depth structural characterisation of previously and newly synthesised carbon dots, which in combination with photocatalytic experiments, will allow us to draw correlations between their structural characteristics and photocatalytic efficiencies. This study will allow the adjustment of the parameters required to achieve light absorbers of substantially high photocatalytic activities, which we believe will pave the way to applications in solar fuel synthesis.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Erwin Reisner (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Ava Lage (Student) |
| Description | The currently ongoing work is helping progress carbon dot based photocatalytic systems towards applications in carbon dioxide reduction. Using carbon dioxide as a feedstock for synthesis of solar fuels would help close the carbon cycle and being able to achieve this using a cheap and environmentally benign photocatalyst with potential for upscaling, would advance this endeavour significantly. To design these systems, the interaction between the carbon dots and any potential co-catalysts must be better understood. To this effect, several surface modifications of the carbon dots are being studied with the aim to improve catalytic activity and robustness. Out of this research, a carbon-based system using non-precious metals has been developed and demonstrated to function for carbon dioxide reduction. |
| Exploitation Route | Currently, the project is mainly at a proof of concept stage. In the future, the system under investigation must be improved upon and adapted in order to function on a larger scale. The research being currently conducted will serve as a solid basis to achieve such upscaling. |
| Sectors | Chemicals,Energy,Environment |