Periodic Reporting for period 4 - CATALIGHT (Exploiting Energy Flow in Plasmonic-Catalytic Colloids)
Reporting period: 2023-07-01 to 2023-12-31
More than 85% of the energy that we daily use for our mobiles, washing machines and cars saw a catalyst before reaching us. Some of the fundamental reactions that are taking place right now in our cells would require temperatures higher than 1000 K to proceed if not having enzymes to catalyze them. As such, catalysis does not only make our life easier but in fact possible.
The aim of CATALIGHT is to use sunlight as a sustainable source of energy in order to trigger chemical reactions by harvesting photons with plasmonic nanoparticles and funneling the energy into catalytic materials. Plasmonic-catalytic devices would allow efficient harvesting, transport and injection of solar energy into molecules.
The project takes as its basis many of the currently most important open questions within the management of sustainable energy at the nanoscale:
- The exploration of routes for novel and efficient uses of sunlight energy.
- The realization of functional nanoscale architectures using colloids as building blocks.
- The marriage between harvesting, transport and injection of sunlight into molecules.
The outcomes of this work yield a substantial amount of new fundamental knowledge also directly exploitable results for the applied sciences, particularly photocatalysis and fuel cells.
The aim of CATALIGHT is to use sunlight as a sustainable source of energy in order to trigger chemical reactions by harvesting photons with plasmonic nanoparticles and funneling the energy into catalytic materials. Plasmonic-catalytic devices would allow efficient harvesting, transport and injection of solar energy into molecules.
The project takes as its basis many of the currently most important open questions within the management of sustainable energy at the nanoscale:
- The exploration of routes for novel and efficient uses of sunlight energy.
- The realization of functional nanoscale architectures using colloids as building blocks.
- The marriage between harvesting, transport and injection of sunlight into molecules.
The outcomes of this work yield a substantial amount of new fundamental knowledge also directly exploitable results for the applied sciences, particularly photocatalysis and fuel cells.
One of the initial tasks of the project consisted on assembling an interdisciplinary team able to carry out the different research lines involved in the project: physicists, chemists and material scientists. This - together with the installation of new facilities and equipment - build up solid grounds for the development of the project. Three main aspects were covered along the project: a) the synthesis of new plasmonic catalysts; b) the mechanisms behind energy transfer at plasmonic interfaces and 3) new techniques capable of exploring and exploiting sunlight energy conversion at the nanoscale.
On one side, we mastered the synthesis of novel and complex plasmonic catalysts - either mono or bimetallic ones – and tested them towards sunlight-driven redox reactions, including hydrogen generation. As such, we have exploited and enhanced different properties by designing and synthetizing colloidal structures with internal hotspots, multiple hotspots or fractal character – among others - improving the light absorption and energy conversion capabilities of standard colloidal architectures. As a result of this part of the project, we achieved world-record efficiencies in sunlight-to-hydrogen conversion by using bimetallic plasmonic supercrystals, a new technology that captures direct sunlight and transfers the energy to reactants in order to generate hydrogen by catalyzing the reaction. These results received worldwide press cover, besides top publications and a patent.
Furthermore, we have explored different nanoscale phenomena taking place across the plasmonic metal – molecule interface. We described a new type of charge transfer process mediated by the electric double layer that surround plasmonic colloids. Moreover, by combining plasmonic colloids and electrochemical measurements, we reveled the energy of photoexcited electrons and holes in these systems and the impact of crystal facets of nanoparticles in these type of processes. This part of the project is also reflected in several top publications.
Finally, we developed new techniques for both: mapping nanoscale temperature at plasmonic interfaces and producing large-scale patterning of plasmonic colloidal catalysts. These techniques constitute a fundamental step towards optimizing and scaling-up our experimental results. In the same line, we developed another method to understand these processes at the single molecule level, by looking at reactive in-operando super resolution microscopy. All these results also constitute a large body of publications.
A s a summary, we were able to image, design, synthetize and test new hybrid plasmonic materials for efficient sunlight-to-fuels generation. The very successful development of the project lead to world-record materials for sustainable energy production and conversion, reflected in several publications, patents and wide media cover. With this project, we set the basis for a new route in the solar energy community by showcasing a new class of materials that will hopefully bridge us closer to a sustainable future.
On one side, we mastered the synthesis of novel and complex plasmonic catalysts - either mono or bimetallic ones – and tested them towards sunlight-driven redox reactions, including hydrogen generation. As such, we have exploited and enhanced different properties by designing and synthetizing colloidal structures with internal hotspots, multiple hotspots or fractal character – among others - improving the light absorption and energy conversion capabilities of standard colloidal architectures. As a result of this part of the project, we achieved world-record efficiencies in sunlight-to-hydrogen conversion by using bimetallic plasmonic supercrystals, a new technology that captures direct sunlight and transfers the energy to reactants in order to generate hydrogen by catalyzing the reaction. These results received worldwide press cover, besides top publications and a patent.
Furthermore, we have explored different nanoscale phenomena taking place across the plasmonic metal – molecule interface. We described a new type of charge transfer process mediated by the electric double layer that surround plasmonic colloids. Moreover, by combining plasmonic colloids and electrochemical measurements, we reveled the energy of photoexcited electrons and holes in these systems and the impact of crystal facets of nanoparticles in these type of processes. This part of the project is also reflected in several top publications.
Finally, we developed new techniques for both: mapping nanoscale temperature at plasmonic interfaces and producing large-scale patterning of plasmonic colloidal catalysts. These techniques constitute a fundamental step towards optimizing and scaling-up our experimental results. In the same line, we developed another method to understand these processes at the single molecule level, by looking at reactive in-operando super resolution microscopy. All these results also constitute a large body of publications.
A s a summary, we were able to image, design, synthetize and test new hybrid plasmonic materials for efficient sunlight-to-fuels generation. The very successful development of the project lead to world-record materials for sustainable energy production and conversion, reflected in several publications, patents and wide media cover. With this project, we set the basis for a new route in the solar energy community by showcasing a new class of materials that will hopefully bridge us closer to a sustainable future.
The new nanomaterials, mechanisms and techniques developed in CATALIGHT helped us to narrow the parameters space towards exploring and optimizing novel routes for converting sunlight into chemical energy. Our results shed light to many different areas in the field of solar fuels by following the route of sunlight photons to molecules. We achieved mechanistic understanding at the single molecule and single nanoparticle level, enabling the engineering of novel materials based on bimetallic plasmonic systems. Furthermore, we extended this concept by using self-assembly methods to large scale - device type - of materials with world record efficiencies in the generation of hydrogen from direct sunlight. However, not only materials but also methods were developed in this route. In order to understand the processes involved in such energy conversion schemes - from photon capture to transport, transfer and reactivity of these materials - we developed methods for single particle thermometry and single molecule reactive tracking. Both were instrumental in the design of the later world-record assembly system. As such, CATALIGHT advanced in fundamental knowledge, materials and methods towards a sustainable future.