(415h) Leveraging Photons for Sustainable Catalysis and Energy Production: From Bench to Industry

Heterogeneous catalytic processes account for an annual production of trillions of dollars of value-added chemicals and products. However, their frequent demand for energy-intensive conditions, even with the use of current catalysts, establishes the chemical sector as one of the largest industrial energy consumers globally, with annual CO₂ emissions near the gigaton level. Heterogeneous photocatalysis with optically active metal nanoparticles that supports collective electronic resonance (Plasmon) is an emerging paradigm that has created exciting opportunities for developing more sustainable alternatives to the traditional petroleum-based thermal catalysis approaches. Strong light-matter interactions creates a local environment on the nanoparticle surface that facilitates chemical bond activations, enabling otherwise energetically unfavorable chemical reactions to proceed with high efficiencies and at milder operating conditions than those typify conventional catalysts. Photocatalysis with this approach shows promise for overcoming the energy demands of traditional thermal catalysis and unlocking new reactivity channels with higher reactivity and selectivity that cannot be accessed only by thermal means.

This talk will summarize our recent advances in developing tailored visible-light activated plasmonic photocatalysts for driving several environmentally and industrially relevant high-value reactions, including mitigation of anthropogenic compounds, such as CO₂ and CFCs, and production of clean fuel and fertilizer (H₂, NH₃) along with the mechanistic understanding of the processes by which illumination can give rise to chemical reactivity and modify the reaction pathways on the nanoparticle surfaces via controlling the elementary step energetics. Our efforts toward commercializing this technology and addressing challenges lay ahead (materials, scalability, photon management, process development, etc.) will also be discussed. Toward this goal, we are pioneering state-of-art electrified high-throughput photoreactor platforms that use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to power chemical reactions for producing fuels and major commodity chemicals on an industrially relevant scale at low costs and zero carbon emission. Electrified photocatalysis, ideally fueled by renewable electricity, presents a feasible and sustainable route for replacing heat from fossil fuels with photons from LEDs in practical applications. LED technologies are experiencing a step-change in their efficiency and stability, providing a highly efficient yet cheap and reliable photon source across the visible spectrum. This and a continuous decline in the cost of renewable energies could establish the foundation for the electrified photocatalysis to potentially turn into a transformative technology to revolutionize the future of the energy and chemical industries once technological barriers are overcome. A transition from fossil-based burners in thermal plants to electrified photocatalysis for clean chemical manufacturing while reducing the energy cost also represents a significant leap toward decarbonizing chemical sectors with a substantial economic implication, in line with sustainability development goals determined by the United Nations.