Hierarchical Nanoscale Assemblies for the Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2 by H2O

Abstract:
Arrays of cobalt oxide-silica core-shell nanotubes offer a design for scalable artificial photosystems in which the cycle of CO₂ reduction by H₂O is closed on the nanoscale while products are separated across the continuum of length scales from nanometers to centimeters and beyond. Synthesis and characterization of such arrays will be presented including methods for spatially controlled functionalization of the core-shell units by inorganic oxide-based light absorber-nanocatalyst groups. Emphasis is on the understanding of charge transfer across the various interfaces, and of catalytic mechanisms of CO₂ reduction at Cu clusters and H₂O oxidation at metal oxide particles by time-resolved optical and transient ATR FT-IR spectroscopy.
 
 
Bio:
Heinz Frei received his PhD in Physical Chemistry at ETH Zuerich. After a postdoctoral stay at the University of California at Berkeley, he started a research group in solar photochemistry at LBNL. Over the past two decades, Frei has established new methods for utilizing visible and near infrared light for the environmentally friendly synthesis of useful chemicals, the chemical storage of solar photons, and has developed time-resolved FT-IR infrared spectroscopic methods for unraveling mechanisms of heterogeneous catalysis under reaction conditions. Currently, his research effort focuses on the scientific challenges of the direct conversion of carbon dioxide and water to a liquid fuel by artificial photosynthesis. He served as Deputy Director of LBNL’s Physical Biosciences Division, the Helios Solar Energy Research Center, and was one of the founding scientists of JCAP. He was elected Fellow of the AAAS in 2014.