You are cordially invited to attend the seminar organized by the Department of Chemistry.
Title: Shining Light on Sustainability: Nanoengineered Carbon Nitride (CxNy)-based Materials for CO₂ Valorization and H₂ Generation
Speaker: Dr. Pratibha Saini Urhan, MRSC, DFG-Walter Benjamin Fellow, Institute for Physical Chemistry (IPC), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, D-07743 Jena, Germany
Date: 29/07/2025, Tuesday
Time:12:30 (Turkiye Time)
This is an online seminar. To request event details please send a message to department.
Shining Light on Sustainability: Nanoengineered Carbon Nitride (CxNy)-based Materials for CO₂ Valorization and H₂ Generation
The urgent global demand for sustainable energy and environmental solutions has sparked the search for innovative materials capable of efficient energy conversion and storage. This seminar will present recent advances in nanoengineered carbon nitride (CxNy)-based materials designed for visible-light-driven CO₂-to-chemical conversion and green hydrogen production. Moving beyond conventional g‑C₃N₄, I develop advanced CₓNᵧ variants (g‑C₃N₅, g‑C₃N₆, g‑C₃N₇) with tailored C/N ratios, engineered through surface functionalization, co-polymerization, defect creation, heterojunction formation, and doping. These strategies enable precise control over electronic properties, bandgap tuning, and charge carrier dynamics. This presentation will demonstrate how nanoengineered materials unlock the visible-light-driven conversion of CO₂ into high-value products and green hydrogen, presenting a promising strategy for addressing climate challenges and enabling sustainable chemical technologies. By combining advanced synthesis with spectroscopic insights, this research aims to bridge fundamental understanding and scalable solutions for clean energy and environmental sustainability.
Short Biography:
Dr. Pratibha Saini Urhan earned her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India, in 2021 under the supervision of Prof. Anshu Dandia, where she developed advanced nanomaterials for green organic transformations. She expanded her research experience as a Research Assistant at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, in Prof. Thomas Ernst Müller’s group, contributing to international CO₂ utilization projects such as SynGas2Ethene and IGSTC-CO2BioFeed. At Friedrich Schiller University Jena, she joined Prof. Wolfgang Weigand’s group on visible-light-driven CO₂ conversion and currently works with Prof. Benjamin Dietzek-Ivanšić, supported by the prestigious DFG-Walter Benjamin Fellowship and ProChancecareer grant, advancing nanoengineered polymeric carbon nitride systems for CO₂ upcycling and green hydrogen production. Her research focuses on CₓNᵧ-based nanomaterials and carbon quantum dots (CQDs) for visible-light-driven transformations, aiming to advance sustainable, energy-efficient chemical processes to address global energy and environmental challenges.