Organization | Dr. Monica Barroso

Dr. Monica Barroso

Monica Barroso obtained her PhD in Photochemistry in 2005, from the University of Coimbra. Since then she as focused her research on the development of photoelectrochemical systems for solar-driven water splitting, as a postdoc in the groups of Prof. Michael Grätzel at EPFL (2006) and Prof. James Durrant at Imperial College London (2009). In October 2012, she joined the University of Utrecht as Assistant Professor at the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis group.

The amount of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface every day has the potential to supply the current global energy consumption needs. Progress in solar energy technologies, particularly those targeting the production of chemical fuels, is key to guarantee long term solar energy storage and the possibility of gradually replacing fossil fuels in many day-to-day activities. The Solar Photochemistry & Catalysis group is mainly focused on the development of photo(electro)chemical (PEC) devices for the synthesis of H2 and hydrocarbon fuels from the solar-driven splitting of water and reduction of CO2. Our work involves the synthesis and characterisation of new electrocatalyst and photoelectrode materials. The rational design of such materials is based on the detailed understanding of the roles of light absorption, charge transport, and catalysis processes, on the overall performance of PEC devices. In particular, in-situ and time-resolved spectroscopies are used routinely to provide accurate time- and space-resolved physical and chemical description of solid interfacial regions in multicomponent photoelectrochemical systems.

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