Photo-electro catalysis and surface science of metal oxides

Short Bio

Hicham Idriss received his BSc, MSc, PhD and Habilitation (Dr. Science) from the University of Strasbourg (France). Prior to joining KIT, he was Fellow at SABIC Corporate R&D (KAUST), Saudi Arabia (2011-2021), Aberdeen Energy Futures Chair and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University (UK) (2008-2011), Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry, the University of Auckland, New Zealand (1995-2008). His main research area is in catalysis and surface reactions. In the last two decades, he has focused on hydrogen production from renewables.

Hicham is also Professor (Hon.) at the Department of Chemistry, University College London, UK

Hicham Idriss | Chemistry - UCL – University College London

Research

1. Hydrogen production from water

Fundamental and applied studies of metal/metal oxides single crystals and powder for energy related catalytic processes such as hydrogen from renewable sources and circular systems. In particular metal/metal oxide interface with multijunction solar cells, as an integrated system, provides a unique system for water splitting to molecular hydrogen and oxygen with solar to hydrogen efficiencies approaching 20%.

Demonstration of 28% solar to hydrogen efficiency and evaluation of its economic importance.

M.A. Khan, I. Al-Shankiti, A. Ziani, H. Idriss, Sustainable Energy and Fuel. 5, 1085-1094 (2021)

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2021/SE/D0SE01761B#!divAbstract

Towards large scale hydrogen production from water, what have we learned and what are the main hurdles to cross for commercialization.

H. Idriss, Energy Technology, 9, 2000843 (2021)

https://doi.org/10.1002/ente.202000843

A Stable Integrated Photoelectrochemical Reactor for H₂ Production from Water Attains a Solar-to-Hydrogen Efficiency of 18% at 15 Suns and 13% at 207 Suns. M.A. Khan, I. Al-Shankiti, A. Ziani, N. Wehbe, H. Idriss , Angewandte Chemie, Int. Ed. 59, 14802–14808 (2020).

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ange.202002240

2. Fundamental studies of the surface reactions of CeO₂

The potential of CeO₂ as an epoxidation catalyst is studied for the reaction of propylene with H₂O₂ by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and temperature programmed desorption (TPD). It demonstrated room temperature activation of adsorbed hydrogen peroxide and gas phase propylene, producing adsorbed C₃H₆O most likely through Eley-Riedel (E-R) mechanism.

The reaction of hydrogen peroxide and propylene to propylene oxide on the surface of CeO₂: An in situ FTIR spectroscopy and temperature programmed desorption study.

S. Bashir and H. Idriss J. Chem. Physics (Invited), 152, 044712 (2020).

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5140544

IR spectra of (a) propylene oxide during the reaction of propylene with adsorbed H₂O₂ on CeO₂ (b) propylene oxide in the gas phase and under vacuum compared to that of the reaction product observed in (a)

3. Actinide oxides

Study of the surfaces of the oxides of actinides. Their unique orbital symmetry and non-negligible relativistic effect on their electronic configuration is poised to lead to specific structure-sensitivity relationships in redox chemical reactions not encountered in transition metal oxides. These when coupled with plasmonic resonance of metal clusters and particles provide a prototype to study electron transfer reactions between the U5f and Au5d bands, triggered by photonic and thermal energies.

(a) Energy levels of the optical and electronic band gaps of UO₂ superimposed on them the expected Au5d/6s orbital levels of a Au cluster. (b) Simulated Electric Field, EF (XY plane), at the interface of TiO₂ on top of 4 nm Au thin film, the scale bar shows the EF intensity (from Khan et al. Catalysis Letters 147 (4) 811 (2017)

Videos:

https://www.ifg.kit.edu/img/outise video.mp4

https://www.ifg.kit.edu/img/Laboratory integrated system.mp4

Publications (since September 2021):

Thermal and photon effects on the reaction of H₂ and O₂ to water over Ag–Pd/TiO₂

A. K. Wahab, M. A. Nadeem, H. Idriss

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.09.153

Effect of gold loading on time-resolved ps photoluminescence of ZnO

A. Ziani, S. Al-Taweel, M. A. Nadeem, H. Idriss

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 126 (38), 16148–16157 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c04005

A computational study of the interaction of oxygenates with the surface of rutile TiO₂(110). Structural and electronic trends.

C. Rohmann, H. Idriss

The Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (JPCM) 34, 154002 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/ac4d5b

Electron transfer from a semiconductor to a metal and its implication on photocatalysis for hydrogen production

Y. M. Alsalik, K. Katsiev, H. Idriss

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 126 (36), 15184-15190 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c04025

Oxygen vacancies role in thermally driven and photon driven catalytic reactions

H. Idriss

Chem. Catalysis 2 (7), Pages 1549-1560 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.checat.2022.05.022

The merit and the context of hydrogen production from water and its effect on global CO₂ emission

H. Idriss

Catalysts 12 (2), 231 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12020231

Direct visualization of a gold Nanoparticle electron trapping effect

O. B. J. Williams, B. Baek, G. T. Harrison, K. Katsiev, G. Thornton, H. Idriss

Journal of the American Chemical Society 144 (2) 1034–1044 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c12197

N₂O adsorption and photochemistry on ceria surfaces.

C. Yang, Y. Cao, P. N. Pleßow, J. Wang, A. Nefedov, S. Heißler, F. Studt, Y. Wang, H. Idriss, T.G. Mayerhöfer, C. Wöll

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 126 (4), 2253-2263 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c10181

A study of Ce_xFe_1-xO₂ as a reducible oxide for the thermal hydrogen production from water.

S. Al-Taweel, M. A. Nadeem, H. Idriss

Energy Technology 10 (1), 2100491 (1-9) (2021)

https://doi.org/10.1002/ente.202100491

Extracting turn over frequencies of electron transfer in heterogeneous catalysis. A study of IrO₂-TiO₂ anatase for water oxidation using Ce⁴⁺ cations.

M. Alrushaid, K. A. Wahab, M. A. Nadeem, H. Idriss

J. Catalysts 11 (9), 1030 (2021) (Special issue for the 85^th birthday of Gerald Ertl, Journal cover).