Floating Photocatalyst Composites for Solar Reforming
Jan 9, 2026
2:30PM to 3:30PM
Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/01/2026
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Categories
Prof. Stuart Linley
Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University
Solar reforming (SR) offers a path to circular use of waste as a feedstock for sunlight-driven production of useful fuels and chemicals from both oxidation and reduction reactions. The simplest of these reaction schemes couple non-specific organics oxidation with proton reduction to produce green hydrogen gas (H2), though a wide variety of reactions may be coupled, such as reduction of water to hydrogen peroxide coupled with oxidation of 1-butanol to butanal. Applied solar reforming requires the preparation of durable photocatalyst composites that can withstand long-term use in oxidizing or reducing conditions, can be easily recovered and reused, and that promote product separation and light harvesting. Low-density, floating photocatalyst composites can provide some, or all, of these features and may also allow for sunlight-driven reactors to be deployed over bodies of water where a critical feedstock (H2O) is abundant.
Bio:
Stuart completed his undergraduate (BASc, 2014) and doctoral (PhD, 2019) at the University of Waterloo where he worked on recoverable and reusable photocatalysts and polymer coatings for subsurface delivery of nanoparticles. In 2020, he joined the Reisner lab at the University of Cambridge where applied his expertise to develop floating photocatalyst composites for solar reforming applications as an NSERC postdoctoral fellow. In 2023, he joined McMaster university where he is leading a research program on improving photocatalyst composite design, waste feedstock pre-treatment, and photoelectrocatalytic devices for solar reforming applications.
In-Person: ABB 102
Online: Echo360