Research Projects

The burning of fossil fuels contributes to Giga tons of carbon emissions, and India is one of the early adopters of green hydrogen. The Prime Minister announced a National Hydrogen Mission in 2047 to accelerate plans for generating carbon-free fuel from renewable sources. Three key steps in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water are generation of charge carriers, separation of charge carriers, and redox reactions on the surface of photocatalysts. However, advances in solar-to-hydrogen (STH) energy conversion efficiency have been limited, with STH energy conversion efficiency still below 1%. To overcome charge separation and charge carrier transport, researchers propose introducing a unique layered structure of Bi-based materials, such as Bismuth oxyhalides (BiOXO₃), which has not been explored for photocatalytic H₂ production. These materials possess a piezoelectric potential for spontaneous electrical polarization, enabling the generation of a built-in electric field due to spontaneous electrical polarization. This project aims to synthesize a Bismuth Oxyhalides catalytic system and understand photoexcited charge separation driven by the polarization potential under light. The proposed work aims to clarify the role of the macro polar electric field by replacing the polar structure unit and maintaining the original sillenite structure of BiOXO₃. The concept of non-centrosymmetric piezo-catalysis can convert both solar and acoustic energy into clean hydrogen energy, providing guidance for the design of novel H₂ production material systems. Accurate measurement of H₂ evolution from water will be achieved using an all-glass high air tightness system, ensuring a leakage rate less than 5× 10-⁵ Pa l/s.

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