Office of Research, UC Riverside
Ping Feng
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
Chemistry Dept
pyfeng@ucr.edu
(951) 827-2042


Synthetic Integration of Inorganic-Organic Functionality in Hybrid Semiconductors Based on Chalcogenide Clusters

AWARD NUMBER
007420-002
FUND NUMBER
33145
STATUS
Closed
AWARD TYPE
3-Grant
AWARD EXECUTION DATE
5/7/2015
BEGIN DATE
5/3/2015
END DATE
7/31/2018
AWARD AMOUNT
$430,000

Sponsor Information

SPONSOR AWARD NUMBER
1506661
SPONSOR
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
SPONSOR TYPE
Federal
FUNCTION
Organized Research
PROGRAM NAME

Proposal Information

PROPOSAL NUMBER
15040414
PROPOSAL TYPE
Renewal
ACTIVITY TYPE
Basic Research

PI Information

PI
Feng, Pingyun
PI TITLE
Other
PI DEPTARTMENT
Chemistry
PI COLLEGE/SCHOOL
College of Nat & Agr Sciences
CO PIs

Project Information

ABSTRACT

Non-Technical Summary
With support from the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in the Division of Materials Research, the goal of this research is to create a new generation of crystalline porous semiconducting materials for energy and environmental applications. The integration between high surface area and semiconducting properties makes these new materials especially useful as efficient adsorbents and photocatalysts for applications including adsorption and solar-energy-driven conversion of carbon dioxide into fuels such as methane. The research has broad impact because it blends together and contributes to various fields such as photocatalytic materials, semiconducting nanoparticles, cluster chemistry, and porous materials. The PI is actively involved in various educational and training programs for undergraduate students. The project combines diversity in materials synthesis and various characterization and measurement techniques.

Technical Summary
The overall objective of this research is to develop highly stable crystalline porous chalcogenides that integrate high-surface area and uniform porosity with semiconductivity and optoelectronic properties and to study various properties and applications ranging from selective gas sorption, visible-light responsive photoelectrodes, to photocatalysis and electrocatalysis. By integrating synthetic and structural principles from metal chalcogenide chemistry and nanoporous solids, this research seeks to employ templated multi-component co-assembly processes to create a new generation of chemically and photochemically stable chalcogenide-based crystalline porous semiconductors. Specifically, the research aims to utilize heterometallic chalcogenide systems and structural and functional diversity of organic species to control structures of chalcogenide clusters and frameworks and to tune their semiconducting and optoelectronic properties. This project helps to develop and advance a new area of cross-disciplinary research at the interface between semiconducting materials and nanoporous solids. The project explores a new frontier dealing with unique porous and semiconducting materials based on chalcogenide building blocks. The activity provides the fundamental understanding about key factors in the synthetic design and optimization of crystalline porous semiconductors. Students in this project benefit from excellent training opportunities in synthesis, materials characterization, and property measurements.
(Abstract from NSF)