Overview
Topic status: We're looking for students to study this topic.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) pose a serious threat to the health of those exposed to them and researchers have been striving for cost effective methods to render them harmless to the population. At QUT we have developed various techniques and methods to synthesize novel photocatalysts made from noble metal nanoparticles (NPs), that use visible light to drive important chemical reactions in the environmental remediation area. This is based on our important finding that gold and silver NPs on oxide supports strongly absorb visible light, and catalytically decompose VOCs in air, as shown in fig 1, and synthetic dye in water.1-3 An exciting consequence of this is the possibility of driving these reactions with solar radiation, an abundant clean energy source. While, the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance is suspected by most of playing a role in these reactions, the underlying mechanism through which the NPs are able to function as catalysts is yet to be determined3. This lack of knowledge is a serious impediment to optimizing the photocatalytic performance of these materials, and identifying new environmental remediation reactions that the NPs can photocatalyze.
The aim of this project is to establish the role that the NP plasmon resonance plays in photocatalytic activity by understanding the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and the nanostructure. This investigation will involve varying particle size and composition and determining whether any variation in photcatalytic activity is correlated to any observed change in the Plasmon resonance. The work will also determine what role, if any, thermal processes play in the observed photocatalytic activity.
The project will include a combination of electromagnetic theory, quantum mechanics and solid state physics. The nanoparticles will be fabricated by established colloidal processes. Both analytical and numerical modelling of the plasmonic behaviour will be undertaken using Matlab and COMSOL Multi-physics. Laser spectroscopy will be used to characterize the Plasmon resonance of the NPs.
References:
- X. Chen, H. Y. Zhu, J.-C. Zhao, Z. F. Zheng, X. P. Gao, Angew Chem Int Edit. 47 5353, (2008)
- X. Chen, Z. Zheng, X. Ke, E. Jaatinen, T. Xie, D. Wang, C. Guo, J. Zhao and H. Zhu, Green Chem. 12, 414, (2010)
- H. Zhu, X. Chen, Z. Zheng, X. Ke, E. Jaatinen, J. Zhao, C. Guo, T. Xie and D. Wang, Chem. Commun. 7524, (2009)
- Study level
- Honours
- Supervisors
- QUT
- Organisational unit
Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Contact
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Please contact the supervisor.
Associate Professor Esa Jaatinen
