Atomic Force Microscopy Webinars

AFM for Solar Fuels Research: Surface Imaging of Charge Transfer on Photocatalysts

This webinar is cohosted by Teddy Huang (Bruker) and Prof. Fengtao Fan (Chinese Academy of Sciences), who pioneered spatially resolved surface photovoltage microscopy for solar fuels research using the open-stage flexibility of the Dimension AFM platform.

Learn about recent AFM applications and innovations for solar fuel research

In this webinar, Dr. Huang discusses Bruker's open-architecture AFM platform and its flexibility for complicated application needs such as those inherent in solar fuel research. Prof. Fan then demonstrates his development of spatially-resolved surface photovoltage (SPV) microscopy, used to image surface photo-induced charge transfer dynamics. Such results can provide guidelines for designing efficient solar fuel-generating devices. 

Webinar Summary

This joint webinar includes two parts:

  1. A review of recent AFM applications and innovations for solar fuels research, detailing challenges resulting from the complexity of materials/device characterization and limitations of general small-sample AFMs.
  2. An introduction to spatially resolved surface photovoltage (SPV) microscopy based on a Bruker Dimension Icon AFM. This includes a description of the SPV microscopic technique as used in recent solar fuels research advancements.

In the first part of this webinar, Dr. Teddy Huang (Bruker) reviews recent AFM applications for solar fuels research (converting sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into hydrogen and liquid fuels). He details challenges resulting from the complexity of materials/device characterization and limitations of general small-sample AFMs, then introduces the recent progress towards solutions for energy research.

In the second part of the webinar, Prof. Fengtao Fan (Chinese Academy of Science) introduces spatially-resolved surface photovoltage (SPV) microscopy, a five-year technical and applications development in his lab based on a Bruker Dimension Icon AFM. This KPFM-based SPV technique has been used for imaging the transfer dynamics of photocarriers generated by absorbing sunlight, providing fundamental insights and practical guidelines for device designs. Prof Fan will take the popular semiconductor metal oxide photoanodes BiVO4 and TiO2 as examples to demonstrate recent important applications of the SPV microscopic technique in advancing solar fuels research.

 

This webinar was presented on: November 4, 2018

Find out more more the featured AFM products and services in this webinar:

Figure 1: Experimental setup for spatially-resolved surface photovoltage imaging and results showing distribution of photogenerated electrons and holes on a single catalytic cyrstal.

Speakers

Dr. Teddy Huang

Staff Development Applications Scientist, Bruker Nano Surfaces

Dr. Huang obtained his PhD degree in physical chemistry from Emory University in 2012. After graduation, he worked for Prof. Nathan Lewis at Caltech as a postdoctoral scholar, where he investigated the semiconductor/metal interfacial structure using AFM nanoelectric measurements. He joined in Bruker in 2014 and now leads the team for development of AFM-based electrical and electrochemical applications. As of today, he has published 43 peer-reviewed articles with more than 2300 citations and an H-index of 22.

Prof. Fengtao Fan

Group Leader, Solar Energy Research Division, and Vice Director of State Key Laboratory of Catalysis in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Prof. Fengtao Fan is the group leader in the Solar Energy Research Division and the vice director of State Key Laboratory of Catalysis in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he received his PhD degree in Physical Chemistry in 2010. His research interests include operando spectroscopy, photoelectrical imaging spectroscopy, and development of Deep Ocean UV Raman spectrograph.