A new microscope technique will watch individual catalyst particles at work during light-driven chemical reactions, tracking atomic movements in real time rather than inspecting them before and after. Most industrial chemical manufacturing today relies on high heat and pressure, consuming large amounts of energy. Photocatalysts—materials that use light to drive reactions at room temperature—could slash that energy use and replace hazardous reagents. But designing better photocatalysts has been slow because researchers have lacked tools to see what actually happens on catalyst surfaces during a reaction. Current methods typically examine catalysts only before and after use, leaving the crucial middle—activation, deactivation, and the interplay between reactants and surfaces—as guesswork. This project combines two advanced instruments: the atomic-resolution spectroscope at the SuperSTEM facility and an environmental electron microscope at the York-JEOL Nanocentre. Together, they can map atomic positions and chemical bonding on catalyst surfaces while reactions occur under near-realistic conditions. The team will focus on olefins, a class of molecules central to plastics and pharmaceuticals. If successful, this work could transform how photocatalysts are designed—moving from trial-and-error to rational engineering based on direct observation. The immediate impact is on fundamental understanding of surface chemistry, but cleaner, lower-energy chemical manufacturing would ultimately affect supply chains for everything from medicines to packaging.
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Heterogeneous photocatalysis holds the promise of revolutionising chemical manufacturing by enabling cleaner, light-driven catalytic reactions. Unlike traditional thermal processes, photocatalysts can trigger reactions under room temperature and atmospheric conditions as well as using less harmful reagents, thereby increasing safety, and reducing environmental impact and energy consumption. However, achieving precise control over the activity, selectivity, and stability of heterogeneous photocatalysts remains a significant barrier to developing efficient and sustainable technologies. A key challenge lies in applying advanced characterization tools to gain a deep understanding of the dynamic interplay between reactants, solvents, catalysts, and products during these reactions. Traditionally, such tools have been used in isolation, often only assessing the catalyst before and after the reaction due to their incompatibility with the reaction environment. This approach provides limited mechanistic insight, leading to a trial-and-error method in photocatalyst design. This collaboration aims to overcome these challenges by enabling monitoring of catalyst sites under reaction conditions, thereby enhancing catalyst design. By leveraging the atomic-resolution spectroscopic capabilities at the SuperSTEM EPSRC National Research Facility for Advanced Electron Microscopy and the York-JEOL Nanocentre, we will gain unprecedented insights into the mechanisms of light-induced reactions and the conditions under which photocatalysts are activated or deactivated. These advanced techniques will allow us to precisely determine atomic positions, bonding environments, and their implications for photocatalytic activity. The unique capabilities of the SuperSTEM facility, particularly its ability to combine spectroscopy with atomic-resolution imaging, will allow for comprehensive and reliable characterisation of photocatalyst surfaces, shedding light on potential activation and deactivation mechanisms. The environmental STEM at the York-JEOL Nanocentre will enable us to observe surface chemical reactions under near-realistic conditions, offering insights closer to actual reaction conditions than ever before. Focusing on industrially relevant transformations involving olefins, we aim to uncover fundamental aspects of photocatalyst surface chemistry as it adapts to varying reaction environments. This will enable us to correlate these chemical changes with photocatalytic efficiency, leading to improved catalyst designs. This project represents a pivotal collaboration with one of the world’s leading research facilities, positioning my research at the forefront of photocatalysis. It marks a significant departure from traditional approaches to heterogeneous photocatalyst design, advancing the state-of-the-art in this field and distinguishing my work from current trends.
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