• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Producing more sustainable hydrogen with composite polymer dots

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
February 12, 2021
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: P-Cat

Hydrogen for energy use can be extracted in an environmentally friendly way from water and sunlight, using photocatalytic composite polymer nanoparticles developed by researchers at Uppsala University. In laboratory tests, these “polymer dots” showed promising performance and stability alike. The study has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

How we are to meet future demand for sustainable energy is a much-debated question. One feasible way to go is hydrogen, which can be produced from renewable resources: water and solar energy. But the process requires what are known as photocatalysts. Traditionally, these have been made of metal-based materials that are often toxic. Instead, a research group headed by Haining Tian at Uppsala University’s Ångström Laboratory is working to develop nano-sized organic photocatalysts – “polymer dots” – designed to be both environmentally friendly and cost-effective.

Since polymer dots (Pdots) are so tiny, they are evenly distributed in water. Compared with traditional photocatalysts, this provides a larger reaction surface, which means that more light can be stored in the form of hydrogen gas. The research group has now developed a Pdot containing three components. In tests, the particle has shown very good catalytic performance and stability.

“Combining several components that absorb light at different wavelengths is the easiest way to create a system in which all the visible surfaces capture light. But getting these components to work well together in a photocatalytic system is challenging,” says Haining Tian, Associate Professor (Docent) of Physical Chemistry at Uppsala University.

To investigate how well the various components work together, Tian and his colleagues used spectroscopic techniques in which the Pdot was exposed to light for a certain length of time. They were thus able to follow how photochemical intermediates were created and, under illumination, disappeared.

“It’s exciting to see that both ultrafast energy transfer and electron transfer take place in one particle, and that this helps the system to make use of the light and separate the charge for the catalytic process,” says the study’s lead author Aijie Liu, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Chemistry – Ångström Laboratory.

The researchers have succeeded in optimising the system of triple-component polymer dots so that it catalyses the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen with a 7% efficiency rate at 600 nanometres (nm). This is significantly better than the 0.3% at 600 nm obtained by the group when they were working on Pdots consisting of only one component. One problem has previously been that the photocatalysts degrade prematurely, but now the researchers were unable to discern any distinct degradation even after 120 hours’ testing.

###

Aijie Liu et al. (2020), Panchromatic Ternary Polymer Dots Involving Sub-Picosecond Energy and Charge Transfer for Efficient and Stable Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution, Journal of the American Chemical Society. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c12654

Media Contact
Haining Tian
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c12654

Tags: Chemistry/Physics/Materials SciencesEnergy/Fuel (non-petroleum)Nanotechnology/MicromachinesPolymer Chemistry
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Why Beer Foam Stays So Stable: The Science Behind the Perfect Pour

Why Beer Foam Stays So Stable: The Science Behind the Perfect Pour

August 26, 2025
SwRI Scientist Heads Science Team for New NASA Heliophysics AI Foundation Model

SwRI Scientist Heads Science Team for New NASA Heliophysics AI Foundation Model

August 26, 2025

Expanding Azole Chemistry with Precise N-Alkylation

August 26, 2025

Advancing Green Technology with More Efficient and Reliable SiC Devices

August 26, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    147 shares
    Share 59 Tweet 37
  • Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    142 shares
    Share 57 Tweet 36
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    115 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    81 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Managing Sedation and EEG for ECMO: Challenges and Benefits

Retinal Imaging: A New Lens on Brain Health

Spine Structure and Venom Extraction in Fish

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.