We design and synthesize innovating nanomaterials for fuels production and environmental remediation. Areas of concern include: (1) thermal and photo-assisted degradation of organophosphorous or perflourinated compounds and (2) solar-driven fuels synthesis (i.e. water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction). One of the biggest barriers limiting the practicality of both solar fuels production and sunlight-assisted chemical degradation is the lack of photocatalytic materials that efficiently capture and convert sunlight to drive targeted chemistry. Work focuses on using plasmonic nanostructures to introduce visible-light driven activity into wide-bandgap semiconducting photocatalysts to expand their applicability for solar-driven applications. Fully exploiting plasmonic materials for photocatalytic applications requires detailed analysis of the materials design parameters that control plasmonic-sensitization efficiency. Research efforts will be focused on: 1) synthesis of composite catalysts coupling high-surface-area oxide supports with embeded plasmonic nanostructures; 2) quantifying the sensitization efficiency (i.e. carriers generated per photon) of the plasmonic nannostructures as a function of structural properties (composition, size, shape, weight loading); and 3) determining the extent to which plasmonic sensitization improves catalytic turnover for reactions of interest.

1. P. A. DeSario, C.L. Pitman, D.J. Delia, D.R. Rolison, J.J. Pietron, (2019) “Low-temperature CO oxidation at Cu nanoparticles stabilized in low oxidation states on TiO2 aerogels via enhanced Cu||TiO2 interfacial contact,” Appl. Catal. B, 252, 205–213.
2. P.A. DeSario, J.J. Pietron, T.H. Brintlinger, J.F. Parker, O. Baturina, R.M. Stroud, D.R. Rolison (2017) “Oxidation-stable plasmonic copper nanoparticles in photocatalytic TiO2 nanoarchitectures,” Nanoscale, 9, 11720–11729. 

Additional Benefits

Awardees who reside more than 50 miles from their host laboratory and remain on tenure for at least six months are eligible for paid relocation to within the vicinity of their host laboratory.

A group health insurance program is available to awardees and their qualifying dependents in the United States.