Description:

Seminar Description: Using suitable molecular precursors for functional inorganic nanomaterial synthesis allows for reliable control over composition and uniform particle size distribution, which can help to reach desired chemical and physical properties. In my talk, I would like to outline advantages and challenges of the molecular precursor approach in light of selected recent developments of molecule-to-nanostructured materials synthesis for renewable energy applications, relevant for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), overall water-splitting and paired electrolysis towards value-added product formation. Electrochemical water-splitting into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) is widely regarded as a promising approach to producing environmentally-friendly fuels for energy supply. In the recent years, inexpensive, earth-abundant and environmentally benign main-group- and transition-metal-containing materials such as chalcogenides, pnictides and other functional materials in conjunction with semiconducting co-catalysts that can independently catalyze OER and HER have been established. Still a main hurdle towards technological use on a large scale is to provide reliable catalyst systems for HER, OER and overall water-splitting which are not ‘only’ efficient but also robust and long-term stable in a variable pH range under harsh and industrially relevant reaction conditions, at least for several months without losing activity.

Speaker Bio: Matthias Driess is a full professor of metalorganics and inorganic materials at the Department of Chemistry of Technische Universität Berlin in Germany since 2005. He obtained his PhD degree and completed his habilitation at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He serves as a deputy of the Cluster of Excellence UniSysCat and is a Director of the UniSysCat-BASF SE joint lab BasCat, and of the Chemical Invention Factory (CIF) for Start-ups in Green Chemistry. He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the European Academy of Sciences. For more information: https://www.tu.berlin/en/metallorganik