George Mason scientist awarded American Chemical Society petroleum research fund grant to study photocatalytic nitrogen fixation with hybrid nanomaterials.
Hao Jing, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistryreceived the prestigious American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS-PRF) for his proposed project entitled “Deciphering Synergistic Effects in Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation via Site-Selective Growth of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) on Anisotropic Metal Nanostructures.”
Each year, the ACS-PRF holds a highly selective competition to award funding to top scientists across the United States and Canada in the petroleum field with a proven track record of producing innovative fundamental research. The grant recipients were announced in C&EN November 5, 2024. The purpose of the ACS PRF is providing seed money that allows researchers to pursue a new direction in petroleum-relevant science and has helped support the careers of many scientists.
The Haber-Bosch (HB) process by which chemists can produce ammonia (NH3), involves very harsh conditions, including high pressures (200 bar) and high temperatures (300-500oC). It is of great significance fundamentally and technologically to explore new environmentally friendly methods for the clean and safe production of NH3 under mild conditions.
Jing, serving as the PI, will design novel hybrid nanostructures to study the synergistic effects in photocatalytic nitrogen fixation (PNF) in which clean and inexhaustible solar energy is utilized to reduce nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3). As an alternative energy source of hydrogen for fuel cells, ammonia (NH3) will serve as a primary fuel for power generation other than petroleum soon. Therefore, chemists foresee that with this substitute fuel produced from the burgeoning photocatalytic reactions, the nation’s dependence on petroleum could be significantly reduced for a better future achieving carbon neutrality worldwide.
Jing will receive $125,000 from the American Chemical Society for this project. Funding will begin in September 2025 and will end in late August 2027.
