Brian Tuffy

Irish

Topic: Photoactivity of Carbon Nitride Materials:

My work investigates the potential of carbon nitride (CN) and CN hybrid materials for use in photoreactions such as the reduction of volatile organic compounds, water splitting and efficient photovoltaics. Carbon nitrides are a simple, cheap and old material which show great promise for today's nanomaterials and energy research. The overall idea is to simply and cheaply harness the suns energy to do work.

These materials potentially offer an ideal energy source for the future where passive, large scale and efficient energy is converted to a useable form, wheather stored as chemical energy as in water splitting to hydrogen and oxygen or directly creating electrical current in new photovoltaic devices. Another application suited to this easily synthesised material is the large scale environmental clean-up of toxins.

The scientific study of these materials also provides interesting opportunities. With various bonding configurations proposed, there is a need for more experimental evidence to highlight the optical and electrical properties available in these materials. With graphene being recently honoured as a material of great importance, it is also worth noting the search for a CN equivalent for the future.

My initial aim is to screen a variety of CN based materials for their photoactivity including hydrogen/oxygen production from water and reduction of carbon dioxide, eventually optimising and tuning the materials for performance. This project is done in collaboration with the chemistry and physics departments at LMU.