Solar energy conversion

How can we directly harvest sunlight to drive the generation of sustainable chemical fuels?

Our group develops advanced photoactive nanomaterials to capture solar energy for the direct splitting of water and photodehydrogenation of organic molecules. We synthesize engineered heterostructures, spanning from customized TiO2-based composites and low-dimensionality nano-shapes to organic nanosized semiconductors and low bandgap inorganic composite photoelectrodes, to simultaneously modulate optical and electronic properties. By optimizing light absorption and maximizing charge carrier separation, we are pushing the efficiency limits of solar-to-hydrogen technologies toward the scalable production of solar fuels. In addition to energy storage (solar-to-fuel), we also work on energy generation systems (solar-to-electricity), with a special focus on organic photovoltaics.