G. Charles Dismukes - Research
2025 Research programs
Use this link to download 2025-Research programs in Charles Dismukes Research Group
Annual Research Reports
Earth-abundant catalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) (2)
Hydrogen is a bulk chemical produced on the 107 ton/year scale but could also be a fuel of the future. Today this hydrogen is produced from methane in steam reforming. Switching the hydrogen production to a renewable resource is a challenge, but some electrolyzers produce hydrogen on a commercial scale already from electricity (electrochemically). We are developing hydrogen evolution catalysts for benign neutral conditions in order to reduce hydrogen costs to a level competitive with conventional fuels.
Photoelectrochemical water-splitting (PEC)
Photoelectrochemical cells (PEC) that can split water into hydrogen and oxygen using sunlight are a promising strategy to generate and store clean, renewable energy. However, PEC devices suffer from low stability and efficiency, preventing them to penetrate the market. Our group aims to significantly increase the solar to hydrogen conversion efficiency up to 10% using a tandem configuration, as well as to increase the lifetime of the device. In a tandem device, two semiconductor light absorbers (one for high energy and one for low energy radiation) are combined to utilize most of the solar spectrum. We are also interfacing the photoabsorbers with Rutgers-developed best in class earth-abundant hydrogen and oxygen-evolving catalysts to decrease the required cell potential to drive water splitting.
