Hrvoje Petek and Jin Zhao Awarded $675,000 Grant From NSF

Hrvoje Petek and Jin Zhao received a $675,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for a proposal entitled “TiO₂ photocatalysis: the coupling of electrons, plasmons, polarons, and molecules by ultrafast photoemission spectroscopy and theory.”

This is a continuation of Petek’s and Zhao’s joint experimental/theoretical studies on femtosecond time scale photoinduced dynamics in the photocatalytically active material TiO₂. In this iteration of the continuing research effort, the focus is on how plasmonic excitations and ionic lattice response influence the interaction of photoexcited electrons with adsorbed molecules.