Development of New Generation of Sub-Nanometer Catalysts for Sustainable Energy Applications

Developing novel heterostructured nanomaterials for energy applications as water splitting under visible light has enormous potential for energy production. Currently the existing materials have very low quantum efficiency, which indicate that new approaches are required in catalysts design. In this work we have developed and characterized sub nanometer Au and Pt nanoparticles, which greatly enhanced rate of hydrogen production of CdS. These heterostructured materials were characterized by TEM, STEM, XRD, UV-Vis spectroscopy and DRIFTS. We have also conducted comprehensive studies of these catalysts in photocatalytic reactors, where we observed a substantial hydrogen production under visible light.