Sunlight is being wasted in chemical manufacturing because most photocatalysts cannot use the full spectrum of solar energy. This project builds tiny reactors that convert useless near-infrared and damaging ultraviolet photons into wavelengths that drive chemical reactions efficiently. The problem is that many industrial processes—making hydrogen, steel, or chemicals—cannot simply run on electricity from solar panels. Photocatalysis offers a direct route from sunlight to fuel, but today’s catalysts only work well with a narrow band of visible light. The rest of the solar spectrum either passes through unused or degrades the catalyst. This fellowship will embed light-converting materials into polymer films wrapped around microreactors, so that incoming photons are shifted to useful energies before reaching the catalyst. If successful, these luminescent solar microreactors could boost the energy return on energy invested for photocatalytic fuel production, making off-grid solar chemical plants feasible. The same polymer films could also be fitted to greenhouse roofs to shift sunlight into wavelengths that plants use more efficiently, increasing crop yields without extra energy input. The project is applied fundamental science—it builds new structure-function relationships for light-converting polymers while developing a scalable fabrication route.
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Climate change – and the transition to a net-zero society – is the biggest challenge the world faces. Although efforts to decarbonise our energy infrastructure through photovoltaic cells have progressed rapidly, several industry areas cannot be easily electrified (e.g., long-haul transport, steel production, chemical manufacturing). One solution to this problem is switching to alternative fuels and feedstocks, such as low-emission hydrogen. However, most hydrogen today is produced from fossil fuels via steam reforming (99% globally in 2022). Low-emission hydrogen can be produced by water electrolysis. However, the broad deployment of water electrolysers will add significant demand (> 600 TWh) to the national grid. Consequently, there is a pressing societal need to develop off-grid decentralised approaches to decarbonise our energy infrastructure fully. One exciting avenue is the direct conversion of solar energy into chemically stored energy through photocatalysis, creating ‘solar fuels’. However, a critical challenge that currently limits the efficiency of this approach is the inability of photocatalysts to harvest all wavelengths of sunlight effectively. Low-energy near-infrared (NIR) photons are poorly absorbed, and high-energy ultraviolet (UV) photons can degrade the photocatalyst. This challenge can be overcome by upconverting and downshifting the incident light. Through upconversion, two or more low-energy NIR photons can combine to form one photon of higher energy that is readily absorbed by the photocatalyst. Through downshifting, a high-energy UV photon is re-emitted at lower energies, thereby limiting damage to the photocatalyst. In this fellowship, I will pioneer the use of luminescent solar microreactors (LSMRs). These innovative devices will absorb solar photons and convert them to more suitable wavelengths for photocatalysts, leading to a significant increase in conversion efficiency. This research has the potential to revolutionise the way society manufactures chemicals by harnessing the power of sunlight. The specific objectives of this project are to: Identify upconverting and downshifting species that will enhance the absorption of sunlight by a model ruthenium(II)-based photocatalyst. Explore key material-structure-function relationships when light-converting species are incorporated into polymer films. Integrate light-converting polymer films with chemical microreactors and determine the effect on the conversion efficiency of a photochemical reaction. Develop a fabrication pathway to produce light-converting polymer films at scale. Assess the tunability of light-converting polymer films when different photocatalysts are employed. This project will directly enhance product yields in photochemical reactions, thereby improving the energy return on energy invested (ERoEI) of photocatalytic devices. The project will also have far-reaching benefits beyond the solar chemical community in other fields, such as the agritech sector, where crop yields can be boosted by fitting spectral converters in greenhouses.
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