Assistant Professor of Chemistry Gongfang Hu and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Stephanie E. Sanders have received an award of $62,117 for their project “Sunlight-Driven Carbon Dioxide Conversion with Cost-Effective Metal Compounds.” The project aims to use light to drive the conversion of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, into useful fuels. They will examine the use of bimetallic Bismuth-Nickel complexes as potential catalysts for artificial photosynthesis.
The synergy of the advantageous properties of the two low-cost metals has the potential to overcome traditional shortcomings in artificial photosynthesis catalysts. Using a variety of spectroscopic techniques, the ability of the complexes to absorb, store, and transfer energy from light will be examined. The ability of the bimetallic complexes to drive chemistry after absorbing light will also be measured by tracking the conversion of carbon dioxide. The results of this project will form the basis of improving molecular design of bimetallic catalysts for low-cost, efficient artificial photosynthesis.