Speaker: Professor Manish Chhowalla (Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy)
In this bp-ICAM webinar, Professor Manish Chhowalla of the University of Cambridge will describe the catalytic activity from metallic phases of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). He will briefly describe how the different phases of 2D materials and their catalytic properties and then discuss notable results. Over the past ten years, his group has shown that metallic phases of MoS2 and WS2 are good catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction because of good charge transfer and reaction kinetics. During their research they have also learned that strain in 2D TMDs plays a crucial role in their catalytic performance, and that sulphur vacancies are active sites for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Recent results will be discussed, including the measurement of the catalytic activity of sulphur vacancies.
About Manish Chhowalla
Manish Chhowalla is the Goldsmiths’ Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge. His research interests are in the fundamental studies of atomically thin two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). In particular, his group studies the optical and electronic properties of different phases of 2D TMDs. He has demonstrated that it is possible to induce phase transformations in atomically thin materials and utilize phases with disparate properties for field effect transistors, catalysis, and energy storage. Prof Chhowalla is a Fellow of the Materials Research Society, Institute of Physics and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is the Associate Editor of ACS Nano, and has been on the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers since 2016.