Light-driven Fuel Production mediated by Molecular Catalysts

Using solar photons to drive energy intensive reactions that take energy poor feedstocks like water and carbon dioxide into energy rich fuels represents an opportunity to capture and store diffuse solar energy. Molecular catalysts can selectively mediate the multi-electron, multi-proton transformations that convert water and carbon dioxide into energy rich fuels but practical technologies that integrate these complexes with light absorbers have yet to be realized. To address the challenges limiting the development of solar fuel technologies, my research lab is learning (1) how to exploit energy-efficient proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) processes for fuel production schemes and (2) how to integrate fuel-producing catalysts with photon capturing materials. Through this work, new approaches to efficiently convert solar photons into chemical energy are being developed. \r\n \r\n






Jillian Dempsey (University of North Carolina)