Research
Photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis (PEC)
| Principal investigator: | Joe BRISCOE |
The sustainable production of fuels from sunlight is a key challenge in current research, and a wide range of materials and systems are being investigated. The basic principle is to use photo-excited electrons and holes generated in a semiconducting material to achieve reduction and oxidation reactions in a couple electrolyte system. The most basic reaction for solar fuel production is the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen. Many systems have been demonstrated that can achieve either photo-oxidation or photo-reduction of water, and increasingly complex and exotic compounds are being investigated. We have focussed on how ferroelectric materials can display interesting photocatalytic properties that are related to the internal separation of charge carriers via the ferroelectric polarisation. We demonstrated that this polarisation can significantly enhance the photocatalytic activity of barium titanate (BaTiO3), which is further enhanced by decoration with silver nanoparticles. We are continuing to investigate ferroelectric materials for both photocatalysis and PEC applications.