Toward Efficient Photocatalytic Materials

The current dependency on non-renewable and polluting fossil fuels is responsible for many social, environmental, and health problems such as air pollution and greenhouse effects. Furthermore, the limited supply of fossil fuels is unable to meet the world increasing energy demand. It is therefore essential that alternative means of generating energy and fuels be developed. Of all alternatives, conversion of solar energy to chemical fuels or electricity is one of the most attractive routes because of the unlimited supply and easy accessibility of sunlight. In this talk, I will focus on our efforts in the synthesis and characterization of visible-light responsive photocatalytic materials. Several families of materials with visible light response have been synthesized and their photocatalytic properties have been characterized. We have not only made progress on the development of new photocatalytic materials with novel chemical compositions but also succeeded in improving the band structures and morphologies of well-known photocatalytic materials for water reduction or oxidation.