Photocatalysis and Photoconversion

The Photocatalysis & Photoconversion team focuses on light-induced heterogeneous catalytic processes, specifically reactions triggered by photoactivatable nanomaterials.

The team’s research brings together the chemical design of photocatalysts and the characterization of their structural, optoelectronic, and catalytic properties under illumination. The expertise of the group covers a wide range of functional semiconductors (e.g., TiO₂, g-C₃N₄, ferrites, ZnO, Bi₂O₃, Ga₂O₃, BN, MOF) and supported mono- and bimetallic nanoparticles (e.g., Au, Pt, Pd, Ru, Ag, Cu, Ni), from synthesis and characterization at various scales to structuring and macroscopic shaping for integration into photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical reactors.

To improve light absorption, photoconversion yields, quantum efficiencies of reactions, and process effeciency, the team employs various strategies for the synthesis, modification, and shaping of photocatalysts:

• Nanostructuring, self-assembly, and architecturing for optimal morphologies (3D, 2D, 1D, 0D).
• Modification of physicochemical properties, including functionalization, doping, interface control (metal/semiconductor heterojunctions, metal/metal junctions), and the incorporation of plasmonic nanoparticles.
• Tailored synthesis of supported catalysts.
• Development of functional surfaces (coatings, textiles) and 3D photocatalytic media (alveolar foams).
• Design of bio-based photocatalyst supports.

Through the diversity of materials developed, light sources (solar, UV-A, visible), and photocatalytic reactors available, multiple types of assisted catalysis are being explored, including semiconductor-induced catalysis, photoelectrocatalysis, plasmonic catalysis, low-temperature photo-assisted catalysis, and photothermal catalysis.

The catalytic applications under consideration are societal in scope, targeting energy and environmental transitions and addressing major challenges of the 21st-century. These include water and air management, promoting more sustainable and decarbonized chemistry, and developing renewable alternatives to fossil resources.

The team’s work focuses on water and air pollution treatment (e.g., nanoplastics, micropollutants, volatile organic compounds), decontamination of neurotoxic agents, and the production of solar fuels and valuable molecules such as hydrogen, methane, and ethylene, particularly through artificial photosynthesis. It also explores synthetic chemistry for compounds like hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. The catalytic reactions studied are implemented in order to investigate their mechanisms and improve the performance of the catalytic materials developed, but also from a more applicative point of view. To achieve these objectives, the team is involved in a number of national and international research collaborations on these topics, and in particular within two France 2030 research programs (PEPR H₂ and PEPR SPLEEN).

Internship and job opportunities offered by the team are regularly posted in the dedicated section: ICPEES Recruitment.

• Chemical synthesis of functional semiconductors (oxides, nitrides, etc.)
• Chemical synthesis of plasmonic nanoparticles
• Synthesis of nanocomposites (e.g., semiconductor heterojunctions)
• Functionalization methods for macroscopic surfaces
• Development of supported catalysts (mono- and bimetallic)
• Photoelectrochemical characterization techniques
• Photocatalytic measurements (batch and flow, gas and liquid phases)
• Thermocatalytic measurements (batch and flow, gas and liquid phases)
• Optimization of photocatalytic processes for pollution mitigation

• Influence of Nitridation Conditions on the Doping Sites and Photocatalytic Visible Light Activity of Nb,N Codoped TiO₂

Q. Xi, Papaefthimiou V., N. Le Breton, M. Takashima, V. Keller, B. Vileno, T. Cottineau.

Chemistry of Materials, 36, 2024, 3705-3716

• Rapid Determination of the Optimum Thickness of Doped TiO₂ Nanotubes Layer by Local Photoelectrochemistry and Operando Properties Extraction by Data Modeling

S. Vergne, F. Gelb, V. Keller, T. Cottineau

Solar RRL 8, 2024, 2400156

• Scaling-up the use of macroscopic photo-CWPO La_1-xTi_xFeO₃/SiC alveolar foam catalyst for solar water treatment against micropollutants

P. Garcia-Munoz, A. Abega, A. Hernandez-Zanoletty, D. Robert, S. Malato, N. Keller

Chemical Engineering Journal, 498, 2024, 155750

• H₂ production by formic acid decomposition on ceria-modified Ru/TiO₂ catalysts under dual photonic/thermal excitation

J.M. Montes-Monroy, R. Manzorro, L. Valenzuela, J. Ivanez, J.A. Pérez-Omil, N. Keller

Catalysis Today, 441, 2024, 114852

• Influence and optimization of g-C₃N₄ doping for H₂ production from water under solar light irradiation

L. Hammoud, V. Caps, J. Touffaily, T. Hamieh, V. Keller

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 51, 2024, 285

• Investigation of a new modified easy one-step hydrothermal method to synthesize Z-scheme gC₃N₄-TiO₂ compositesfor enhanced photocatalytic mineralization of sodium diclofenac under simulated solar light irradiation.

A. Victoire Abega, C. Marchal, M.-A. Dziurla, D. Robert

Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, 456, 2024, 115850

• The role of the gold-platinum interface in the AuPt/TiO₂-catalyzed plasmon-induced reduction of CO₂ with water.

L. Hammoud, C. Strebler, J. Toufaily, T. Hamieh, V. Keller, V. Caps

Faraday Discussions, 242, 2023, 443

• Photocatalytic degradation of polystyrene nanoplastics in water. A methodological study

P. Garcia-Munoz, P.H. Allé, C. Bertoloni, A. Torres, M. Ulagares de la Orden, J. Martínez Urreaga, M.-A. Dziurla, F. Fresno, D. Robert, N. Keller

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 10, 2022, 108195

• Graphene-supported 2D cobalt oxides for catalytic applications

L. Michel, S. Sall, T. Dintzer, C. Robert, A. Demange, V. Caps

Faraday Discussions, 227, 2021, 259

• Probing the role of atomic defecfs in photocatalytic systems in situ through Photo-Induced enhanced Raman Scattering (PIERS)

D. Glass, R. Quesada-Cabrera, S. Bardey, P. Promdet, R. Sapienza, V. Keller, S.A. Meier, V. Caps, I. P. Parkin, E. Cortés

ACS Energy Letters, 6, 2021, 4273

Academic collaborations

National

• Biomaterials and Bioengineering (BIOMAT UMR _S 1121 Strasbourg)
• Centre de Recherche sur l'Hétéro-Epitaxie et ses Applications (CRHEA, UMR 7073, Sofia Antipolis)
• DGA Maîtrise NRBC (ex Centre d’Étude du Bouchet, CEB, Vert-le-Petit)
• Institut Charles Sadron (ICS UPR022 Strasbourg)
• Institut de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand (ICCP UMR 6296, Clermont-Ferrand)
• Institut de Chimie de Strasbourg (POMAM, UMR7177, Strasbourg)
• Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux (ICMCB, UMR 5026, Bordeaux)
• Institut de Chimie des Milieux et Matériaux de Poitiers (IC2MP, UMR 7285, Poitiers)
• Institut de Chimie Moléculaire et des Matériaux d'Orsay (ICMMO, UMR 8182, Orsay)
• Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC UMR7104 Strasbourg)
• Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg (IPCMS UMR 7104 Strasbourg)
• Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physico-Chimie pour l'Environnement et les Matériaux (IPREM UMR5254, Pau)
• Institut des Sciences du Vivant (JOLIOT, CEA, Saclay)
• Institut des Sciences Moléculaires (ISM, UMR 5255, Bordeaux)
• Institut Français du Pétrole et des Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN, Solaize)
• Institut Fresnel (UMR 7249, Marseille)
• Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination (LCC, UPR 8241, Toulouse)
• Laboratoire de Chimie Physique (LCP, UMR 8000, Orsay)
• Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie des Nano-Objets (LPCNO, UMR 5215, Toulouse) 
• Laboratoire Eau, Environnement et Systèmes Urbains (Leesu, Université Paris-Est Créteil)
• Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d’Aquitaine (LOMA, UMR 5798, Bordeaux)

International

• Imperial College London (UK)
• Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, centre Energie Matériaux et Télécommunications (INRS EMT, Varennes, Canada)
• Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (ICP, CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
• Lodz University of Technology (Lodz, Poland)
• PlataForma Solar Almeria (PSA, Almeria, Spain)
• Politechnika Gdanska (Gdansk, Poland)
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Madrid, Spain)
• University of Cádiz (Cadiz, Spain)
• University of Milano-Bicocca (Milano, Italy)
• University of Trento (Trento, Italy)
• Walailak University (Tha Sala, Thailand)

Industrial partners

• SEB group, Boyé Technologies, NBC Sys, Hutchinson, NOF Metal Coatings

Alumni (01/12/2024)

2024      ABBADI Meryem – PhD

2023      ANAGNOSTOPOULOU Maria – PhD (Process Engineer, Blackleaf, Strasbourg)

DUFLOT Marie – PhD (post-doctoral researcher, ICPEES)

HAMMOUD Leila – PhD (post-doctoral researcher, LPCNO, Toulouse)

JIAMPRASERTBOON Arreerat – Post doctoral researcher (Lecturer, Walailak University, Thailand)

ROUVIERE Nina – PhD (post-doctoral researcher, ICS, Strasbourg)

XI Qingyang – PhD (R&D fuel cells, Tech Future, China)

2022      ABEGA Aimé – Post doctoral researcher

BRZEZINSKA Magdalena – PhD

IVANEZ Javier – PhD (Start-up Airplas, Valencia, Spain)

2021      EL MAROUAZI Hamza - PhD

2020      BARDEY Steven – PhD (Start-up Aerleum, Paris)

                GELB Florian – PhD (R&D Engineer, ACC, Bordeaux)

2019      BAHRAMIAN Ahmad – Post doctoral researcher (UMICORE, Belgique)

                BIAPO Urielle – PhD (R&D Engineer, Horiba, Grenoble)

FAVET Thomas – PhD (R&D Engineer, Bekeart, Belgium)

GARCIA-MUNOZ Patricia  – Post-doctoral researcher (Associate Prof. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain)

GERER Geoffrey - PhD

JIMENEZ-CALVO Pablo Isai – PhD (Post doctoral researcher, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany)

2018      ARDEMANI Leandro - Post doctoral researcher

                BARROIS Pauline – PhD (Patent Engineer, Strasbourg)

                MICHEL Loïc – Engineer (IT Developer, Crédit Mutuel, Strasbourg)

                MOTAY Marvin – PhD/Post-doctoral researcher

                WOJCIECHOWSKA Joanna – PhD (Dystar, Frankfurt, Germany)

2017      GHISOLFI Alessio – Post-doctoral researcher

HOLTZINGER Claire – Post-doctoral researcher (Clinic projet manager, Medevise, Strasbourg)

MARIEN Cédric - PhD

RICO SANTACRUZ Marisa – Post-doctoral researcher (TDK, Malaga, Spain)

2016      YAN Yige – PhD/Post-doctoral researcher

2015      GONZALEZ-VALLS Irene – Post Doctoral researcher (Quality manager, NGNY Devices, Spain)

PERARD SENGELE Armelle - PhD

2014      CHRISTOFORIDIS Konstantinos – Post-doctoral researcher (Assistant Professor, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece)

                GROSS Pierre Alexandre – PhD (System Engineer, Advanced Energy, USA)

                OSTOJSKA Kinga - PhD

2013      CARRE Gaëlle - PhD

MOELLER Janina – Post-doctoral researcher

YAMIN Yas – PhD (Lecturer, The University of British Columbia, Canada)

2012      KOUAME AMOIN Natalie – PhD

MASSON Romain - PhD

2011      ALONSO-TELLEZ - PhD

                DONTSOVA Darya - PhD

                DOSS Nizar – Post-doctoral researcher

                LAFJAH Mama - PhD

                ROEMER Anne – Post-doctoral researcher

2010      ROSSELER Olivier – PhD (Saint-Gobain, Boston, USA)

ŚWIERCZYNSKI Dariusz – Post-doctoral researcher

WURTZ Nathanaëlle – Engineer

2009      GRANDCOLAS Matthieu – PhD (SINTEF, Oslo, Norway)

SALEM Ibtissam – Post-doctoral researcher

SHANKAR M.V. – Post-doctoral researcher

TEISSIER Anne - PhD

2008      JOSSET Sébastien - PhD

2007      KARKMAZ-LEDU Maithaa - Post-doctoral researcher

2005      BOSC Florence – Post-doctoral researcher (Assistant Professor, Institut Européen des Membranes, Montpellier)

2004      BARRAUD Elodie – Post-doctoral researcher