The Division of Chemistry supports Michael J. Rose of the California Institute of Technology as an American Competitiveness in Chemistry Fellow. Dr. Rose will develop water-splitting catalysts in a collaboration between the laboratories of Prof. Harry Gray and Prof. Nate Lewis. The goal of the research is to make efficient catalysts for solar fuels conversion, from earth-abundant elements. In addition, the PI will collaborate with other catalyst experts at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. For his plan for broadening participation, the PI will work with teachers and students at John Muir High School in Pasadena, CA to develop hands-on activities for young people -- demonstrating the connections between chemistry and energy. These activities are being carefully designed to align with California State High School Science Standards.
Research like that of Dr. Rose is aimed at developing alternative technologies to replace fossil fuels. The particular catalysts that Dr. Rose is investigating do not rely on precious metals, and are likely to have a greater chance of being incorporated into viable, economical approaches at generating fuel from sunlight. The efforts at broadening participation being pursued by Dr. Rose are aimed at enabling the best and brightest young people to pursue careers in science.
This grant was awarded to Dr Michael J Rose (PI) as a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology, under the supervision of Professor Harry B. Gray and Professor Nathan S. Lewis. The research proposed and executed by the PI and associated research group was aimed toward the development of inexpensive, earth abundant catalysts for hydrogen generation. Under the umbrella of the NSF-sponsored Center for Chemical Innovation, Solar Fuels (CCI-Solar), the PI investigated both the development of new iron-based catalysts, as well as the attachment of existing catalysts to semiconductor substrates. One main obstacle in creating a delocalized energy economy is that existing catalysts for H2/O2 generation (from O2) utilize expensive metals, like platinum and iridium. As such, it is not feasible to deploy such catalysts in widespread Solar Fuels devices. In one line of research, the PI has developed a new hydrogen-generating catalyst that uses the cheapest of all the transition metals - iron (JACS, 2012, 134, 8310). In another line of research, the PI in collaboration with several Lewis group members developed a methodology for attaching small molecules (including transition metal complexes) to silicon semiconductor substrates. The bond-making step generates a carbon-carbon bond - one of the most stable linkages available to the synthetic chemist. This research could accelerate progress towards assembling a functional solar fuels device, where a molecular catalyst has been integrated with a light absorbing semiconductor. Lastly, the PI's program has broadened participation in chemistry in the development of a new chemistry outreach kit called H2fromH2O (website: www.H2fromH2O.org). This outreach kit is designed for high school chemistry teachers, or for middle school science teachers. The kit involves a safe, hands-on laboratory experiment for water splitting using 'home-built' amperostats and electrodes that provide a quantitative experimental output on H2 and O2 generation. Instructors were able to check-out the kit for 1-week intervals, and perform the experiment with all of their relevant classes; all reagents, protocols and supplies were provided at no charge to the instructor or school.
