The role of layered oxides nanoarchitectures in green H2 production
H2, as a fuel, could be the last resort for the production of sustainable energy sources. Nowadays, many efforts have been made to investigate catalytic and photocatalytic approaches to develop sustainable and economical processes for H2 production. The utilization of nanomaterial architecture can be a rational solution for sustainable and efficient H2 production in all these H2 production approaches.
Nanoarchitechture of materials can be obtained either by top-down or bottom-up synthesis approaches, such as templated materials synthesis. Chemically, nanomaterials for H2 production can be nitrides, oxides, sulfides, carbides, and carbon-based. A fraction of these nanomaterials is naturally abundant, while others can be developed from abundant nanomaterials and precursors. In theory and sometimes in the experimental analysis, Nanostructures should possess a high surface area. However, they are usually unfavorably less active or inactive in the natural form. For example, in the case of layered materials, their interlayer nanospace and surfaces are inaccessible to catalytic reactions. As a result, these layered nanomaterials require additional post-modifications (e.g., exfoliation or functionalization) to invoke their great physio-chemical potentials in the photocatalytic/electrocatalytic/catalytic H2 production. Therefore, breakthroughs in competitive catalytic H2 production mandates developing new layered nanomaterials and frameworks that supersede traditional layered nanomaterials’ boundaries.
Lecturer: Esmail Doustkhah (Assistant Professor, İstinye Üniversitesi, Turkey)
Participants: students, postgraduates and scientific-pedagogical workers of the faculty of Sciences of RUDN and other Universities