Approaches Towards Polymer-Based Heterogeneous Photocatalyst Materials
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Freeburne, Sarah
- Graduate Program:
- Chemical Engineering
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 26, 2024
- Committee Members:
- Robert Rioux, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies
Bryan Vogt, Major Field Member
Elizabeth Elacqua, Outside Unit & Field Member
Phillip Savage, Major Field Member
Christian Pester, Chair & Dissertation Advisor - Keywords:
- Photocatalysis
Heterogeneous Catalysis
Polymers - Abstract:
- Catalysis plays a major role in the operation and functioning of modern society, allowing for the production of chemical products that are essential to everyday life. However, traditional thermal catalysis can suffer from the increased energy demands and inherent risks to safety that arise from increased temperatures and pressures. Heterogeneous photocatalysis has gained increasing attention in recent years for its potential to offer reduced costs from energy consumption as well as safer operating conditions with ambient temperatures and pressures. While titania represents the most widely studied photocatalyst, it is limited through the requirement of UV light exposure for operation, and decades of study and optimization have yet to fully realize the desired cost-savings associated with heterogeneous photocatalysis. Many alternative photocatalytic molecules, including organic and transition metal-based photocatalysts allow for more versatile chemical transformations when compared to titania, including, but not limited to, organic syntheses, polymerizations, molecular degradations, and hydrogen generation. This dissertation introduces the main concepts of photocatalysis and explores approaches to polymer-based heterogeneous photocatalysts. The body of work described herein discusses the design and performance of two different photocatalytic materials, one utilizing glass beads to support photocatalytic polymer brushes, and another based on a UV-crosslinked photocatalytic gel that can be post-modified with photocatalysts. In addition, observations on the stability of the mentioned photocatalytic polymer brushes are discussed, in relation to the relative stability of xanthene dye- based photocatalysts.