Guest Researcher | Spring 2018

Electrocatalytic and Optical Properties of Various Hydrogen-Production Catalysts Immobilized at a Polymer-nanoITO Interface

Human-engineered systems capable of converting sunlight and water to fuels offer a promising approach to a sustainable energy future. One strategy includes coupling light-capture components with molecular catalysts, capable of accelerating energetically demanding chemical transformations. This project aims to enhance the state of solar hydrogen production by immobilizing light capturing porphyrin-dyes with molecular catalysts on transparent conducting oxide substrates via surface-grafted polymers. The absorption properties of a novel binuclear copper(II) fused porphyrin catalyst, capable of catalyzing the hydrogen evolution reaction at a turnover frequency of 2,000,000 H2 molecules s-1, were investigated and compared to analogous monomeric copper(II) porphyrins.