Steering Dewetting of Metal Films on Semiconductor Surfaces: Design of Nanoscaled Platforms for Heterogeneous Catalysis

• Applicant: Professor Marco Altomare, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 438933516

The present project aims at developing nanostructuring tools to design catalyst/semiconductor platforms for application in heterogeneous catalysis.At the core of the research is a semiconductor surface engineering approach based on metal dewetting, i.e. the solid-state transformation of thin metal films into self-organized, defined metal nanoparticles.Dewetting will be steered in size and order, and synergistically interlaced with additional self-organizing principles, such as alloying, dealloying, phase-separation and site-selective functionalization, to decorate semiconductor layers (surfaces) with metal or metal compound catalytic nanoparticles. This approach will yield a generation of “dewetted” catalytic materials, ranging from e.g. nanoalloys to nanoporous or chemically-functionalized nanoparticles, integrated to semiconductor surfaces. The target will be a catalyst fine tuning with nanoscale accuracy to enhance the reaction yield in photocatalytic reactions.Overall, the project will generate the groundwork for true rational design of heterogeneous catalysts, to overcome the intrinsic limitations of common catalyst deposition approaches, i.e. inhomogeneous catalyst distribution, poor loading control, incorporation of undesired species at the catalyst/semiconductor interface, loose catalyst/substrate contact and catalyst fall-off or activity degradation phenomena.As side impact, the research will provide nanostructuring concepts and tools with a direct application to related fields such as electrocatalysis, environmental remediation, plasmonics or sensing and will foster expansion of underlying knowledge on mechanistic aspects, nanoscale control and applications of metal dewetting.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Netherlands