1. Rational design and development of plasmonic photocatalysts for specific applications: Developing robust photocatalysts for efficient solar-to-chemical energy conversion is a critical strategy for building carbon-neutral renewable energy systems. Metallic nanoparticles are promising photocatalysts due to their large optical cross section, excellent photochemical stability, and coverage of the solar spectrum. Photoexcitation of these nanoparticles create highly energetic charge carriers (often referred to as “hot electrons” and “hot holes”) which further decays to produce heat (photothermal effect). The hot carriers, possessing energies significantly above thermalized states, can drive demanding chemical transformations but are limited by rapid recombination. Our research focuses on overcoming this fundamental limitation by engineering plasmonic catalysts that enhance charge carrier utilization in a chemical process. In parallel, we exploit photothermal effects from plasmonic decay to drive novel catalytic processes such as the photothermally-driven hydrolysis of silanes—industrial waste materials—to generate green hydrogen and value-added siloxanes and silicone.
Recent publications:
1. "Controlling Plasmonic Charge Carrier Flow at Nanoparticle-Molecule Interface Using Ligand Chemistry." Nanoscale 2025 Link
2. "Dual-Functional Gold Nanoparticles for Plasmon-Enhanced Photothermal Reductive Amination of Aldehydes." ACS Applied Nano Materials 2025 Link
3. "Insight into the photocatalytic and photothermal effect in plasmon-enhanced water oxidation property of AuTNP@ MnOx core–shell nanoconstruct." The Journal of Chemical Physics, 2023 Link
4. “Ligand-mediated electron transport channels enhance photocatalytic activity of plasmonic nanoparticles.” Nanoscale, 2023 Link
5. “Efficient Harvesting of> 1000 nm Photons to Hydrogen via Plasmon-Driven Si–H Activation in Water.” The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2023. Link
6. “NIR-Driven Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production by Silane- and Tertiary Amine-Bound Plasmonic Gold Nanoprisms. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 2022. Link
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​2. Understanding of the exciton dynamics in semiconductor nanocrystals: Recently, we expanded our research scope to include quantum dots and perovskite nanocrystals, focusing particularly on elucidating the role of chemical ligands in governing exciton relaxation and charge separation dynamics within these materials. These nanocrystals hold significant promise for applications in display technologies and quantum information science; however, their practical implementation is hindered by poor photostability and emission intermittency. We aim to effectively suppresses long-lived dark states, total photon emissivity, and photostability via ligand engineering and coupling to plasmonic antennas.
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Recent publications:
1. "Carrier Dynamics of CsPbBr3 Perovskite Nanocrystals from Ensemble Average to Single-Particle Level for Safeguarding the Dilution-Induced Excited-State Decay Heterogeneity." ACS Applied Nano Materials (2025). Link
2. “Amine-Free Multi-Faceted CsPbBr3 Nanocrystals for Complete Suppression of Long-Lived Dark States.” Advanced Optical Materials, 2024 Link
3. "Understanding the Size-Dependent Photostability and Photoluminescence Intermittency of Blue-Emitting Core/Graded Alloy/Shell “giant”-Quantum Dots. Advanced Optical Materials, 2024 Link
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