Research Projects

Climate change has become a global issue, leading to the pursuit of CO2 capture and utilization into value-added feedstock, particularly liquid products like methanol and ethanol. The photoelectrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is a promising solution, but requires a suitable catalyst and higher potential than proton reduction. This project aims to explore nanoclusters@metal organic framework (NCs@MOFs) for the photo(electro)chemical reduction of CO2 to C2 and C2+ products. NCs (Cu, Au) and stable MOFs will be synthesized, and NCs will be encapsulated into MOFs via aperture opening methods. The goal is to stabilize NCs into the pore of MOFs to create a tuned surface for catalysis. The study will focus on the electronic structure of copper and precisely tune their redox state under photoelectrochemical conditions, providing information for the redox process and catalytic active site(s). The composite materials will have NCs@MOFs acting as catalytic active sites and MOFs providing stability for NCs.