Plasmonic Enhancement of Hydrogen from Water Splitting

Project ID: 2531ad1552

(You will need this ID for your application)

Research Theme: Physical Sciences

UCL Lead department: London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN)

Department Website

Lead Supervisor: Geoff Thornton

Project Summary:

Why this research is important. The surface plasmon resonance of nanostructures enhances solar light harvesting using semiconducting substrates either by photo-induced charge transfer or near-field enhancement. Determining which of these mechanisms is most important for water splitting by Au nanoparticles on TiO2 is the main aim of the project. This model system has been studied extensively in connection with oxidation catalysis, and hence provides an excellent platform to explore plasmonic coupling.

Who you will be working with Students and staff scientists in the groups of Geoff Thornton and Helen Fielding along with scientists at central facilities.

What you will be doing This is an instrumental project that will employ low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy, and spectroscopy (STM, STS), XPS, UPS, and time-resolved photoemission. The focus will on the shape dependence of Au nanoparticle plasmon behaviour. It is therefore of interest to be able to control the shapes of nanoparticles. The first aim of this project will be to investigate the shapes of Au nanoparticles grown on TiO2 using STM. In particular, the project will examine whether Au nanowires can be grown by physical vapour deposition on rutile TiO2(110), similar to Pd nanoparticles. Characterisation of photocatalysis will investigate the influence of plasmon excitation on H2O and OH adsorbates. These measurements will be used to probe the surface before and after plasmonic enhancement using light excitation of the nanoparticles. Time resolved photoemission will examine the transfer of the plasmon excitation to the substrate and adsorbate on the fs timescale.

Who we are looking for This project is suitable for a student with a background in condensed matter physics or chemical physics interested in a challenging instrumental project of relevance to climate change mitigation.

Thornton group website:    http://geoffthorntongroup.co.uk/ Fielding group website:      http://helenfieldinggroup.co.uk/