Hybrid Inorganic-Biological Systems: Faradaic and Quantum Efficiency, Necessary but Not Sufficient

Abstract

Adam J. Rieth is a postdoctoral scholar in the Nocera group at Harvard University. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in his hometown. He then earned his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Prof. Mircea Dincă at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he designed metal-organic frameworks for water harvesting. For the past year in the Nocera group, he has investigated the mechanisms and kinetics of photochemical processes that activate strong bonds. Daniel G. Nocera is the Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy at Harvard University. He created the field of proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) at a mechanistic level with the first kinetics measurements and theory of PCET. From this platform, he invented the Artificial Leaf and Bionic Leaf for the solar-driven fixation of carbon dioxide from air in the form of biomass and liquid fuels at energy efficiencies that are 10× greater than natural photosynthesis. He has since elaborated the Bionic Leaf for the solar-driven fixation of nitrogen from air for distributed and carbon-negative ammonia (and fertilizer) synthesis.