The University of Bath Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change invites applications for the following PhD project which is part of a joint PhD programme between the University of Bath and Monash University in Australia.
This project is one of a number that are in competition for up to four funded studentships.
Light-driven chemical transformations provide energy-efficient routes to the generation of fuels in a net zero carbon economy and bond-selective photochemistry in high value chemicals manufacture. Hydrogenation reactions account for 10-20% of all industrial chemical steps and as such will remain a critical technology in the transition to a circular economy that incorporates bioderived feedstocks. Traditionally hydrogenation catalysts based on palladium (Pd) use high temperatures and pressures. leading to un-desired products and increased waste. Materials based on Cu, Ag and Au (5 – 50 nm) have been studied as catalysts for selective hydrogenation processes but typically have higher energy barriers for H2 activation. However these materials also show strong adsorption of visible light absorption via surface plasmon resonance – the reason why suspensions of Au nanoparticles are a deep red colour. This allows energy to be deposited directly into the catalytic sites – generating highly energetic hot electron/hole pairs, which can be exploited in overcoming the high activation barriers. This project will look to develop plasmonic catalysts based on monometallic and bimetallic nanoparticles that can activate H2 under visible light irradiation and perform selective hydrogenation reactions. Our aim is to reduce the thermal energy used to heat large reaction volumes and to explore the relationship between light absorption/catalytic structure/performance to utilize these non-conventional metals for hydrogenation of range of bio-derived platform molecules at mild conditions. We will investigate these plasmonic photocatalytic processes via a comprehensive PhD project involving materials synthesis and reactivity evaluation (Freakley– Bath) and state of the art reactivity mapping down to the single particles level (Maier, Bentley – Monash). At Monash the recently established high-resolution scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM) platform will be utilized to probe the activity of individual nanostructures of differing size and morphology to understand where the highest rate enhancements are achieved under illumination. Information from SECCM will then be related to NP structure and properties, obtained from co-located microscopy/spectroscopy facilities, allowing the underlying structure−property relationships to be established. This PhD studentship will collaborate with the EPSRC Catalytic Plasmonics Programme (www.cplas.org) and will also contribute to Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy, which “sets a vision for a clean, innovative, safe and competitive hydrogen industry that benefits all Australians”
Home institution: University of Bath
Supervisor(s) at Bath: Dr Simon Freakley
Supervisor(s) at Monash: Dr Cameron Bentley, Prof Stefan Maier
For more information and to apply visit https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/understanding-light-driven-h2-activation-for-sustainable-transformations/?p179966