报告题目：Using light, water, and carbon dioxide to make fuels: Conjugated polymer photocatalysts for solar fuels generation.
报告时间：3月6日下午3-4点
报告地点：16幢一楼路演厅
报告人：R. Sebastian Sprick 研究员
邀请人：李小波

报告简介：

Climate change, driven primarily by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, poses one of the most significant challenges of our time. The accumulation of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has led to rising global temperatures through the additional greenhouse effect. The consequences of climate change are far reaching, including melting polar ice caps, shifting weather patterns, and increased frequency of extreme weather events. In response, there is an urgent need to transition towards sustainable energy sources that produce minimal greenhouse gas emissions. Harvesting sunlight with solar cells allows us to produce electricity without emissions. However, storage of electricity is challenging, in particular on large scale, e.g. to stabilise energy grids. Thus, hydrogen has emerged as a promising candidate for clean energy storage as it only emits water when used in a fuel cell making it renewable.

Direct photocatalytic hydrogen production from water has emerged as a research area of immense interest due to its technological simplicity. In water splitting, a photocatalyst absorbs sunlight and directly converts it into hydrogen by splitting water. Most of the studied photocatalysts are inorganic and organic materials have been far less studied as photocatalysts, with the exception of carbon nitride materials. Here, I will present our work on the application of conjugated materials^1-6 as photocatalysts for hydrogen production from water. I will discuss synthetic approaches in tuning the photocatalysts properties to improve photocatalytic activity^6-9 and approaches in making these systems sustainable.^10-12 I will conclude by presenting work in the area of carbon dioxide reduction with conjugated polymers and covalent organic frameworks photocatalysts.^13-15

报告人简介：

Seb obtained his PhD in 2013 from The University of Manchester developing catalytic systems and their application in the synthesis of organic field-effect transistors in particular polytrarylamines. He moved to the University of Liverpool to pursue postdoctoral work in the area of conjugated microporous polymers initially working on solution processible materials. He then focused on using the extended conjugation of these materials by studying their ability to act as photocatalysts for water splitting. He was promoted to a Research Lead position within the same group leading a team that worked on solar water splitting using a range of organic photocatalysts. He joined the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry at the University of Strathclyde in June 2020 as an independent researcher with the goal of developing scalable systems for environmental applications initially particularly focusing on solar fuels generation and pathogen inactivation.

代表性论文：

[1]R.S. Sprick, J.-X. Jiang, B. Bonillo, S. Ren, T. Ratvijitvech, P. Guiglion, M.A. Zwijnenburg, D.J. Adams, A.I. Cooper, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 3265.

[2]V.S. Vyas, B.V. Lotsch, Nature2015, 521, 41.

[3]R. S. Sprick, Y. Bai, A. A. Y. Guilbert, M. Zbiri, C. M. Aitchison, L. Wilbraham, Y. Yan, D. J. Woods, M. A. Zwijnenburg, A. I. Cooper, Chem. Mater. 2019, 31, 305.

[4]R. S. Sprick, B. Bonillo, R. Clowes, P. Guiglion, N. J. Brownbill, B. J. Slater, F. Blanc, M. A. Zwijnenburg, D. J. Adams, A. I. Cooper, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016,55, 1792.

[5]M. Sachs, R. S. Sprick,D. Pearce, S. A. J. Hillman, A. Monti, A. A. Y. Guilbert, N. J. Brownbill, S. Dimitrov, X. Shi, F. Blanc, M. A. Zwijnenburg, J. Nelson, J. R. Durrant, A. I. Cooper, Nat. Commun. 2018, 9, 4968.

[6] X. Wang, L. Chen, S. Y. Chong, M. A. Little, R. Clowes, Y. Yan, M. A. Zwijnenburg, R. S. Sprick, A. I. Cooper, Nat. Chem. 2018, 10, 1180.

[7]R. S.  Sprick, C. M. Aitchison, E. Berardo, L. Turcani, K. E. Jelfs, M. A. Zwijnenburg, A. I. Cooper, J. Mat. Chem. A2018, 6, 11994.

[8]C. M. Aitchison, R. S. Sprick, A. I. Cooper, J. Mat. Chem. A 2019, 7, 2490.

[9]R. S. Sprick, L. Wilbraham, Y. Bai, P. Guiglion, A. Monti, R. Clowes, A.I. Cooper, M. A. Zwijnenburg, Chem. Mater. 2018, 30, 5733.

[10] R. S. Sprick, C. Zheng, Y. Bai, C. M. Aitchison, Y. Fang, A. J. Cowan, M. A. Zwijnenburg, X. Wang, A. I. Cooper, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2020, 132, 18854-18859.

[11] Y. Bai, K. Nakagawa, A. J. Cowan, C. M. Aitchison, Y. Yamaguchi, M. A. Zwijnenburg, A. Kudo, R. S. Sprick, A. I. Cooper,J. Mater. Chem. A2020, 8, 16283-1629.

[12]Y. Bai, C. Li, L. Liu, Y. Yamaguchi, A. Gardner, M. A. Zwijnenburg, A. J. Cowan, A. Kudo, A. I. Cooper, R. S. Sprick, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2022, 61, e2022012. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202201299.

[13] Z. Fu, G. Neri, A. Vogel, M. A. Zwijnenburg, A. J. Cowan, A. I. Cooper, R. S. Sprick, J. Mater. Chem. A 2021, 9, 4291 - 4296.

[14] X. Wang, Z. Fu, L. Zheng, C. Zhao, X. Wang, S. Y. Chong, F. McBride, R. Raval, M. Bilton, L. Liu, X. Wu, L. Chen, R. S. Sprick, A. I. Cooper, Chem. Mater.2020, 32, 9107–9114

[15] X. Wang, Z. Fu, L. Zheng, C. Zhao, X. Wang, S. Y. Chong, F. McBride, R. Raval, M. Bilton, L. Liu, X. Wu, L. Chen, R. S. Sprick, A. I. Cooper, Chem. Mater.2020, 32, 9107–9114.