Proceedings of nanoGe Fall Meeting 2021 (NFM21)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.nfm.2021.257
Publication date: 23rd September 2021
This paper will focus on two key areas in solar fuels: (1) the development and application of advanced in-situ methods to achieve new fundamental insights, and (2) the design and development of new catalysts and chemical processes driven by renewables.
There are many challenges in the synthesis of solar fuels. This paper will describe efforts towards two reactions of interest, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). First, we will cover research activities aimed at developing synchrotron-based methods aimed at shedding light onto catalysts that drive these important reactions, including Pd and Cu. Next, we will discuss efforts to design and develop advanced catalysts and their translation towards devices and technology in the solar fuels sector. The goal is ultimately to develop high performance systems with the desired efficiency, selectivity, and reaction rates for new technologies that can contribute to the fuels and chemicals sector. The role of theory and experiment collaboration will be highlighted.