The GAO Materials Chemistry Research Group

Congratulations Alex Tavasoli on your Commentary in Joule,”Green Syngas by Solar Dry Reforming: Killing Two Greenhouse Gases with One Stone”!
A photothermal dry reforming process has been developed that efficiently transforms two potent greenhouse gases, CH4 and CO2, into industrially valuable synthesis gas (a mixture of CO and H2), using a uniquely structured nickel-silica nanoscale catalyst that is impressively resistant to deactivation by coking. This exciting new discovery provides an opportunity to “kill two greenhouse gases with one stone.”

The full article can be read on the Joule website.

Congratulations Yuchan Dong and Kulbir Ghuman and Co-Authors on your Advanced Science Paper Entitled Tailoring Surface Frustrated Lewis Pairs of In₂O_3-x(OH)_y for Gas-Phase Heterogeneous CO₂ Hydrogenation by Isomorphous Substitution of In³⁺ with Bi³⁺
The excited state acidity and basicity of the surface frustrated Lewis pair, in oxygen vacancy and hydroxide defect-laden Bi_zIn_2-zO_3-xOH_y, can be chemically tailored, by controlling the level of isomorphous substitution of Bi(III) for In(III) in the Bixbyite crystal lattice. This makes it possible to optimize the catalytic performance of the solar powered reverse water gas shift reaction, CO₂ + H₂O –> CO + H₂O.

The full article can be read on the Advanced Science website.

Well done Ab on your solar fuels paper published in Advanced Energy Materials, January 2018, where you demonstrate a highly efficient ambient temperature Solar Sabatier process whereby CO2 photomethanation is catalyzed by nanostructured RuO2 on a silicon photonic crystal support at the remarkable rate of 4.4 mmol gcat-1h-1. This exceptional photomethanation rate is due to the large surface area coupled with the unique light-trapping and broadband optical absorption properties of the photonic crystal support. Graphic illustration courtesy of Chenxi Qian.

More details about this study can be read here and the full article can be found on the Advanced Energy Materials website.

The U of T Solar Fuels Team has been selected as one of 20 semi-finalists from 160 applicant’s world wide, in the Ontario Center of Excellence Solutions 2030 Challenge Phase 1 competition, to find technological solutions to the greenhouse gas emissions problem in Ontario.

The strategy proposed by the solar fuels team focuses on the development of light-powered processes for the conversion of  CO2 to synthetic fuels, via gas-phase heterogeneous hydrogenation photocatalysis. This goal of the project is to transition a laboratory CO2-to-fuels prototype to a scaled-up CO2-to-fuels demonstration unit.

Eight winning teams from Phase 1 will receive up to $250,000 in Phase 2 with 10 months to reduce their proposed solution to practice. The winning team in Phase 2 will be eligible for up to $3,000,000 Phase 3 funding to bring their transformative technology to market. The mandate of the Solutions 2030 Challenge is for winning teams and industry to collaborate and envision a path forward to tackle climate change in Ontario and around the world.

Zheng-Min Wang, Wendong Wang and Geoffrey Ozin have discovered a synthetic pathway to a sandwich-type nanocomposite of reduced graphene oxide and periodic mesoporous silica in which mesochannels of silica vertically align with respect to the graphene layers with tunable mesochannel depth and size. Deep insight into the formation mode of this novel class of materials obtains from a high photon flux small angle X-ray scattering technique and zeta potential-based solution chemistry, Advanced Functional Materials 2017, DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201704066

A summary of this work can be read here.

To wrap up 2017, a summary of the Ozin group’s past, present, and future work is presented. Our work from Si nanocrystals, to our transition into solar fuels, and our vision of a circular carbon economy can be read here.

Well done Annabelle, Wei and Chenxi, Ab, Yuchan and Ziqi on your front cover graphic illustration of your paper entitled Tailoring CO2 Reduction with Doped Silicon Nanocrystals published in The article can be read on the Advanced Sustainable Systems, 2017, 1(11), DOI: 10.1002/adsu201700118, where you demonstrate gas-phase CO2 reduction using hydride-terminated boron- and phosphorus-doped silicon nanocrystals, comprised of earth-abundant, low-cost and non-toxic elements. The CO2 reduction activity of silicon nanocrystals doubled with the addition of dopants. Front cover graphic illustration courtesy of Chenxi Qian.

Austria’s Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna opening in December will showcase a diorama of Prof. Ozin’s vision of a closed carbon cycle.

More can be read on the University of Toronto website (I, II).

Andre Arsenault, Hernan Miguez, Ian Manners and Geoffrey Ozin co-invented photonic color technology, in the Chemistry Department, University of Toronto. In 2006, together they co-founded Opalux in order to develop the technology for a range of new and exciting applications.

Opalux today is the world’s leading developer and manufacturer of tunable photonic crystals. On the 24th October 2017, they proudly announced that the company has entered into a strategic partnership with De La Rue, the world’s leading anti-counterfeiting and security specialist for currency, identity and brand protection. The partnership will incorporate joint product development and sales on a global basis.

Commenting on the new partnership, Ulrich Walter, the Product Managing Director De La Rue’s Security Features and Identity Portfolio said: ‘As a security business, we spend every day staying ahead of the counterfeiter across currency, identity, tax stamps and brand protection. One of our core strategic priorities is to grow our security features portfolio by investing in research and development, as well as partnerships. Opalux has an exciting technology that we believe can play a significant role for our global customers, as part of an integrated portfolio and multiple solutions from De La Rue.’

Congratulations Annabelle, Wei and Chenxi as well as Ab, Yuchan and Ziqi on your Advanced Sustainable Systems paper entitled Tailoring CO₂ Reduction with Doped Silicon Nanocrystals!!

In this work, silicon nanocrystals doped with varying combinations of phosphorous and boron were investigated for the heterogeneous photoreduction of CO₂. The observed trends in stability and activity open new pathways towards the development of sustainable CO₂ conversion catalysts.

The article can be read on the Advanced Sustainable Systems website.