Inorganic Spectroscopy and Solar Energy Conversion
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, BS, 2005; California Institute of Technology, PhD, 2011; NSF American Competitiveness in Chemistry Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle, 2011-2012
Research in the Dempsey group aims to address challenges associated with developing efficient solar energy conversion processes. We are particularly interested in the charge-transfer processes that will ultimately govern efficiency in solar fuel production devices: proton-coupled electron transfer reactions, electron transfer across the interface between a catalyst and semiconductor, and the reduction of protons to hydrogen.
Our research program bridges molecular and materials chemistry and relies heavily on methods of physical inorganic chemistry, including time-resolved optical spectroscopy, EPR, and electrochemistry. These studies will provide key insight into many areas immediately relevant to solar fuel production, including charge transport, proton management, the molecular/materials interface, and efficient catalytic hydrogen evolution.