Engineering and characterization of nanocrystals for energy conversion and environmental applications

Ammonia (NH3) is an essential chemical in modern society because of its vital role not only in living organisms but in renewable energy resources. A facile, solar-based strategy to produce ammonia in aqueous media under ambient conditions, via N2 reaction with transiently photogenerated H-atoms upon appropriate semiconductor materials would be ideal. This thesis focuses on the synthesis of ammonia on earth-abundant photocatalysts and by facile fabrication methods. This work also investigates the photocatalytic oxidation of ammonia and its derivatives including chloramines.