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This page provides links to the products of NSF Grant DMR 2016267. The products include published papers, doctoral theses, and archived data collected during the project.
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Award title: High Throughput Experiments to Determine Structure-Performance Relationships for Oxide Photocatalysts
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Link to NSF award details page
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Project Outcomes Report: The production of hydrogen fuel by solar water splitting is a sustainable technology that could be used to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels. However, the technology is materials limited in the sense that available water splitting catalysts are not efficient enough to produce hydrogen at a cost comparable to the steam reforming of natural gas. The goal of this project was to use a new high-throughput experimental technique to develop structure-performance relationships that can be used to design improved water splitting catalysts. The use of the high-throughput technique made it possible to determine that for strontium titanate, the subject of this study, the catalyst particle size and shape both influenced reactivity, insights that can be used to design better catalysts. The experiments also identified that the key process step in the synthesis of highly reactive catalysts is a treatment in molten strontium chloride. This process completely restructures the surface and changes the surface properties in such a way to better separate photogenerated electrons and holes to different surfaces of the particle, thereby increasing the rate of the water splitting reaction. The effects of small additions of impurity elements, such as aluminum, which are known to improve the reactivity of the catalyst, were also explored. It was found that the aluminum changes the electronic properties of the material in a way that increases the catalyst's ability to separate photogenerated electrons and holes and increase the rate of the water splitting reaction. This realization might potentially be applied to a range of similar semiconducting water-splitting catalysts. A novel ion-exchange process to synthesize strontium titanate in molten strontium chloride was also discovered. This surprising synthesis route led to the best water splitting catalyst produced in this project. The project findings have been publicized through international scientific conferences, student dissertations, and open access publications in archival scientific journals. Part of the project's broader impact was achieved through the education of students in materials science and engineering at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels. Three of the graduate students supported by the project are now working in related fields, two in industry and one at a government lab. The outcomes of this project will ultimately have a direct impact on the design of catalysts for water splitting. Improvements in the efficiencies of water splitting catalysts could bring about enormous benefits to society through the manufacture and use of renewable solar fuels.
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Publications
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• M.Y. Zhang, P.A. Salvador, G.S. Rohrer, "Defect compensation as a strategic approach to enhance photocatalytic water splitting performance of SrTiO3," Journal of the American Ceramic Society (2025) in press.
DOI: 10.1111/jace.70296
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• W.J. Song, P.A. Salvador, G.S. Rohrer, "Influence of Al-doped SrTiO3 cores on hydrogen evolution from SrTiO3/TiO2 core-shell catalysts," Journal of the American Ceramic Society 108 (2025) e20542.
DOI: 10.1111/jace.20542
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• A.S. Pisat, J.C. Adler, P.A. Salvador, G.S. Rohrer, "The origin of charged domains on the surface of ferroelastic BiVO4 co-doped with Na and Mo," Journal of the American Ceramic Society 108 (2025) e20482.
DOI: 10.1111/jace.20482
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• M.Y. Zhang, Z.T. Guo, A.J. Gellman , P.A. Salvador, and G.S. Rohrer, "Influence of the molten SrCl2 treatment on the surface structure and photochemical reactivities of SrTiO3," Applied Surface Science, 638 (2023) 158111
DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2023.158111
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• M.Y. Zhang, E.M. Lopato, N.N. Ene, S.D. Funni, T.X. Du, K.Y. Jiang, S. Bernhard, P.A. Salvador, and G.S. Rohrer, "Synthesis and Structure of an Ion Exchanged SrTiO3 Photocatalyst with Improved Reactivity for Hydrogen Evolution," Advanced Materials Interfaces, 10 (2023) 2202476.
DOI: 10.1002/admi.202202476
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• M.Y. Zhang, P.A. Salvador, G.S. Rohrer, "Influence of Particle Size and Shape on the Rate of Hydrogen Produced by Al-doped SrTiO3 Photocatalysts" Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 105 (2022) 5336-5346.
DOI: 10.1111/jace.18488
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• M. Zhang, P.A. Salvador, and G.S. Rohrer, "Influence of orientation and ferroelectric domains on the photochemical reactivity of La2Ti2O7" Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 41 (2021) 319-325.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2020.09.020
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Doctoral Dissertations
(Click author's name to download dissertation)
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Mingyi Zhang, Enhancing Charge Separation on Metal Oxides by Space Charge Engineering for Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting
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Wenjia Song, Influence of pH and Internal Electric Field on the Photochemical Reactivity of Oxide Catalysts
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Data
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Data for "Influence of orientation and ferroelectric domains on the photochemical reactivity of La2Ti2O7
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• La2Ti2O7 Synthesis - 1
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• La2Ti2O7 Synthesis - 2
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• La2Ti2O7 Microstructure
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• La2Ti2O7 PFM data
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• La2Ti2O7 orientation & reactivity 1
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• La2Ti2O7 orientation & reactivity 2
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• La2Ti2O7 orientation & reactivity 3
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• La2Ti2O7 orientation & reactivity 4
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• La2Ti2O7 orientation & reactivity 5
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• La2Ti2O7 orientation & reactivity 6
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Data for "Defect compensation as a strategic approach to enhance photocatalytic water splitting performance of SrTiO3
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• Preliminary experiments - 1
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• Preliminary experiments - 2
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• Preliminary experiments - 3
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• SEM images of catalysts
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• EDS data
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• Program to compute defect concentrations
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• summary of all data
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Data for: Influence of Al-doped SrTiO3 cores on hydrogen evolution from SrTiO3/TiO2 core-shell catalysts
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• Experiments on the titania standard
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• Experiments on the core materials
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• Experiments on the core shell catalysts
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• Experiments on faceted core materials
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Data for: The origin of charged domains on the surface of ferroelastic BiVO4 co-doped with Na and Mo
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• Microscopy for comparison of grains with different thermal treatments
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Data for: Influence of the molten SrCl2 treatment on the surface structure and photochemical reactivities of SrTiO3
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• Summary of all results for this paper
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• confocal microscopy results
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• XPS results
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• Experiments in SnCl2
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• Residual salt composition
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• Results from (100) oriented crystals
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• Results from (110) oriented crystals
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Data for: Synthesis and Structure of an Ion Exchanged SrTiO3 Photocatalyst with Improved Reactivity for Hydrogen Evolution
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• FIB experiment
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• Some reactivity data
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• More reactivity data
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• Experiments to measure quantum yield
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• EDS measurements
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• ICP results and TEM data
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• TEM data
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• molten salt experimental summary
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• more molten salt experiments
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Data for: Influence of Particle Size and Shape on the Rate of Hydrogen Produced by Al-doped SrTiO3 Photocatalysts
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• First attempts at particle synthesis
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• Improved synthesis procedures
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• Photodeposition experiments
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• Particle doping experiments
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• Some reactivity studies
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• Results summary
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• Experiments on co-catalyst addition
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• reactivity data 1
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• reactivity data 2
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