Publications
17
Mai Nguyen, Phong D. Tran*, Stevin S. Pramana, Rui Lin Lee, Sudip K. Batabyal, Nripan
Mathews, Lydia H. Wong, Michael Graetzel, “In-situ photo-assisted deposition of MoS2
electrocatalyst onto Zinc-Cadmium-Sulphide nanoparticle surface to construct efficient
photocatalyst for hydrogen generation”, Nanoscale 2013, Accepted
16
Pascale Chenevier, Laurent Mugherli, Sunita Darbe, Léa Darchy, Sylvain DiManno, Phong
D. Tran, Fabrice Valentino, Marina Iannello, Anne Volbeda, Christine Cavazza, Vincent
Artero “Hydrogenase enzymes: Application in biofuel cells and inspiration for the design
of noble-metal free catalysts for H2oxidation” Comptes Rendus Chimie, 2013, In press
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1631074812002895
15
Eugen S. Andreiadis, Pierre-Andre Jacques, Phong D. Tran, Adeline Leyris, Murielle
Chavarot-Kerlidou, Bruno Jousselme, Muriel Matheron, Jacques Pecaut, Serge Palacin,
Marc Fontecave, Vincent Artero, “Molecular engineering of a cobalt-based
electrocatalytic nanomaterial for H2 evolution under fully aqueous conditions”, Nature
Chemistry, 2013, 5, 48-53
http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v5/n1/full/nchem.1481.html
14
Lifei Xi, Sing Yang Chiam, Wai Fatt Mak, Phong D. Tran, James Barber, Joachim Say
Chye Loo, Lydia Helena Wong, “A novel strategy for surface treatment on hematite
photoanode for efficient water oxidation”, Chemical Sciences, 2013, 4, 164-169
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2013/sc/c2sc20881d
13
Phong D. Tran,* Stevin S. Pramana, Vinayak S. Kale, Mai Nguyen, Sing Yang Chiam,
Sudip K. Batabyal, Lydia H. Wong, James Barber, Joachim Loo, “Novel assembly of MoS2
electrocatalyst onto silicon nanowire array electrode to construct photocathode composed
of Earth-abundant elements for Hydrogen generation”, Chemistry: A European Journal,
2012, 18, 13994
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/chem.201202214/abstract
We reported herein a scalable method, namely photoassisted electrodeposition, for
selectively depositing MoS2 hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst onto Si
nanowire surface just by employing (NH4)2[MoS4] solution in water, visible light and by
applying a moderate bias. Resultant Si/MoS2 represented an excellent photocathode for
hydrogen generation in water at a pH5 solution. Our MoS2 loading method was found to be
applicable for other p-type semiconductor electrodes, nanoparticles e.g. CNx, ZnCdS (see
ref. 17)
12
Phong D. Tran,* Mai Nguyen, Stevin S. Pramana, Anirban Bhattacharjee, Sing Yang
Chiam, Jennifer Fize, Martin J. Field, Vincent Artero, Lydia H. Wong, Joachim Loo, James
Barber, “Copper Molybdenum Sulfide: A New Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen
Production from Water”, Energy Environmental Science, 2012, 5, 8912-8916
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/ee/c2ee22611a
A first solid state HER electrocatalyst, Cu2MoS4, mimicking the active site of Mocontaining CO-dehydrogenase was designed and synthesized. The Cu2MoS4 was
synthesized by employing scalable method, namely precipitation of 2 equivalent
[Cu(MeCN)](BF4) and 1 equivalent (NH4)2[MoS4]. Cu2MoS4 was found to be very active
for hydrogen generation in water over wide pH range with just 130-140 mV overpotential
requirement. This catalyst was extremely stable which represents an attractive alternative to
Pt and metalloenzymes. Works are in progressing to insight the mechanistic function of this
catalyst as well as design novel heterobimetalic sulfide catalysts for the HER.
11
Phong D. Tran and J. Barber, “Proton reduction to hydrogen in biological and chemical
systems”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2012, 14, 13772-13784 (in the PCCP themed issue:
Electron Transfer Theory)
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/cp/c2cp42413d
We discussed in this perspective paper current understanding in the catalysis proton
reduction reaction on bio- and synthetic chemical catalysts: e.g. hydrogenases, bio-inspired
molecular catalysts, metal sulfide solid state catalysts.
10
Phong D. Tran*, Lifei Xi, Sudip K. Batabyal, Lydia H. Wong, James Barber, Joachim Loo,
“Enhancing photocatalytic efficiency of TiO2 nanopowder for H2 production by using
non-noble transition metal co-catalysts”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2012, 14, 1159611599
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/cp/c2cp41450c
We evidenced that Co and Ni nanoclusters could act as efficient electrocatalysts for the
Hydrogen generation in neutral pH water. If a bulk Co, Ni electrode is 40 times less
efficient than a Pt bulk electrode, nanoscale engineered Co, Ni electrode showed only 4
times less efficient than Pt.
9
Lifei Xi, Phong D. Tran, Sing Yang Chia, Saurabh Bassi Prince, Wai Fatt Mak, Hemant
Kumar Mulmudi, Sudip K. Batabyal, James Barber, Joachim Say Chye Loo, Lydia H.
Wong, “Co3O4 decorated hematite nanorods as photoanode for solar water oxidation”, J.
Phys. Chem. C, 2012, 116 (26), 13884-13889
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp304285r?prevSearch=%255BContrib%253A%2Bbarb
er%255D&searchHistoryKey=
8
Phong D. Tran*, Sudip K. Batabyal, Stevin S. Pramana, James Barber, Lydia H. Wong,
Joachim S. C. Loo, “A cuprous oxide–reduced graphene oxide (Cu2O–rGO) composite
photocatalyst for hydrogen generation: employing rGO as an electron acceptor to enhance
the photocatalytic activity and stability of Cu2O”, Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 3875-3878
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/nr/c2nr30881a
http://blogs.rsc.org/nr/2012/08/08/top-10-most-read-nanoscale-articles-in-june/
http://blogs.rsc.org/nr/2012/07/03/top-10-most-read-nanoscale-articles-in-may/
Cu2O is an attractive photocathode material for engineering a photoelectrochemical cell for
water splitting application. However, Cu2O is suffered due to its self-reduction into Cu
inactive photocatalyst on visible light illumination. We reported on using of graphene layer
as an electron acceptor to extract photo-generated electron from the Cu2O conduction band
and thus significantly enhance photostability and photocatalytic activities of the Cu2O. It
was possible thanks to the excellent electron accepting and conducting properties of
graphene.
7
Lifei Xi , Prince S. Bassi, Sing Yang Chiam, Mak Wai Fatt, Phong D. Tran, James
Barber, Joachim Loo, Lydia H. Wong, “Surface treatment of hematite photoanodes with
zinc acetate for water oxidation”, Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 4430-4433
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/nr/c2nr30862b
6
P. D. Tran*, L. H. Wong, J. Barber, J. S. C. Loo, “Recent Advances in Hybrid
Photocatalysts for Solar Fuel Production”, Energy & Environmental Science, 2012, 5,
5902–5918
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/ee/c2ee02849b
http://blogs.rsc.org/ee/category/top-10/
Viability of a potential hydrogen economy depends in a great part in how viable
photocatalyst/ photocatalytic materials for the solar-driven water splitting and solar fuels
production processes can be constructed from elements found abundant on the Earth`s
crust. In this review, we discussed on the latest advances in engineering hybrid
photocatalysts for the water oxidation reaction, hydrogen generation and CO2 reduction
reaction. We specially pay our attentions on systems engineered with employing an
inorganic semiconducting material as photosensitizer and a solid state inorganic
electrocatalyst.
5
J. Sun, C. Sun, S. K. Batabyal, P. D. Tran, S. S. Pramana, L. H. Wong, S. G. Mhaisalkar,
“Morphology and stoichiometry control of hierarchical CuInSe2/SnO2 nanostructures by
directed electrochemical assembly for solar energy harvesting”, Electrochemical
Communication, 2012, 15, 18-21
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S138824811100467X
4
P. D. Tran, A. Le Goff, J. Heidkamp, B. Jousselme, N. Guillet, S. Palacin, H. Dau, M.
Fontecave, V. Artero « Noble Metal-free and CO-tolerant Catalytic Materials for H2
Evolution and Uptake from Noncovalent Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes by
Pyrene-labelled Hydrogenase Mimics”, Angewandte Chimie International Edition, 2011,
50, 1371-1374
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201005427/abstract
3
Le Goff, V. Artero, R. Metayé, F. Moggia, B. Jousselme, M. Razavet, P. D. Tran, S.
Palacin, M. Fontecave “Immobilization of FeFe hydrogenase mimics onto carbon and
gold electrodes by controlled aryldiazonium salt reduction: an electrochemical, XPS and
ATR-IR study”, International journal of hydrogen energy, 2010, 35, 10790-10796
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319910004143
2
P. D. Tran, V. Artero, M. Fontecave “Water electrolysis and photoelectrolysis on
electrodes engineered using Biological and Bio-inspired Molecular Systems”, Energy &
Environmental Science, 2010, 3, 727-747
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2010/ee/b926749b
1
A. Le Goff, V. Artero, B. Jousselme, P. D. Tran, N. Guillet, R. Métayé, A. Fihri, S. Palacin,
M. Fontecave “From hydrogenases to noble-metal free catalytic nanomaterials for H2
production and uptake”, Science, 2009, 326, 1384-1387
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/326/5958/1384.abstract?sid=82a26623-9d19-463b91e8-1fe1091690ef