Prof. David Tilley : Thin Film and Particle Based Solar Water Splitting with Low-Cost Inorganic Materials
Abstract : Particle-based water splitting is considered to have disruptive potential for generating green hydrogen if certain efficiency and stability goals are met. While the required efficiency and durability metrics are much higher for thin film-based systems, the film architecture enables the use of advanced characterization techniques for improvement of the materials, which in a second step can be translated to the more cost-effective particle architecture. In this talk, I will discuss our recent work with cuprous oxide (Cu2O), both as a photocathode for hydrogen evolution as well as a photoanode for water oxidation, and antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) systems for hydrogen evolution. I will discuss a novel protective layer for photoanodes composed of a polyamine embedded in a TiO2 layer that not only conducts holes but also serves as a selective contact for holes on the model systems BiVO4 and Fe2O3. Finally, I will describe our recent efforts for translating these systems to particle-based architectures, where we observe gas evolution with light input only.
Bio : David Tilley received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Georgia, USA and a Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, working with Prof. Matthew Francis. Following a first postdoctoral stay at Princeton University with Prof. Erik Sorensen, David Tilley moved to Switzerland to learn about water splitting with Prof. Michael Grätzel at EPFL. Following this postdoctoral fellowship, he served as Group Leader for the water splitting subgroup in the Grätzel laboratory from 2011-2014. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry of the University of Zurich (UZH) in 2015 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. In August 2024, he became director of the Department of Chemistry at UZH.
Bio : David Tilley received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Georgia, USA and a Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, working with Prof. Matthew Francis. Following a first postdoctoral stay at Princeton University with Prof. Erik Sorensen, David Tilley moved to Switzerland to learn about water splitting with Prof. Michael Grätzel at EPFL. Following this postdoctoral fellowship, he served as Group Leader for the water splitting subgroup in the Grätzel laboratory from 2011-2014. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry of the University of Zurich (UZH) in 2015 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. In August 2024, he became director of the Department of Chemistry at UZH.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
- Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering
Contact
- Wendy Queen
wendy.queen@epfl.ch