Winner: 2025 Environment, Sustainability and Energy Horizon Prize: John Jeyes Prize
Gas-phase Heterogeneous Catalysis for Solar Fuels Research
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2025 Environment, Sustainability and Energy Horizon Prize: awarded for defining a chemical approach to nanomaterials leading to efficient gas-phase heterogeneous carbon dioxide photocatalysis.
The research of the Gas-phase Heterogeneous Catalysis for Solar Fuels Research team focuses on using light, rather than heat, to make everyday chemicals and fuels in a cleaner, more sustainable way. For over 100 years, industry has relied on fossil fuels and high temperatures as the energy and feedstock to drive heterogeneous catalytic processes for the manufacture of myriad commodity chemicals and fuels.
The team is working to flip that script by using light to power heterogeneous photocatalysis to transform simple and abundant molecules, such as CO2, N2, and H2O, into sustainable chemicals, such as H2, CH3OH, C2H4, and NH3. This represents a key step towards decarbonising the chemicals and petrochemicals industries. In this regard, photocatalysis offers big advantages 鈥� less energy, lower emissions, and a smaller carbon footprint. It is an exciting alternative to some of the more energy-intensive methods currently on the table.
The RSC Horizon Prize recognises both the great research culture 鈥� which is essential for catalysing and developing breakthroughs 鈥� and the team鈥檚 exceptionally gifted minds who know and respect the intrinsic value of sharing deep and diverse knowledge, fresh insights, ideas and inspirations.
Todd Siler
Al谩n Aspuru-Guzik, Professor, University of Toronto
Roland Dittmeyer, Professor, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Paul Duchesne, Assistant Professor, Queen's University/University of Toronto
Young Feng Li, CTO, hkl Materials Inc/University of Toronto
Jiuli Guo, Lecturer, Anyang Normal University/University of Toronto
Le He, Professor, Soochow University/University of Toronto
Lourdes Hurtado, Assistant Professor Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de M茅xico (IBERO)/University of Toronto
Zaiyong Jiang, Professor, Weifang University/University of Toronto
Kulbir Kaur Ghuman, Associate Professor, Universit茅 du Qu茅bec/University of Toronto
Nazir P. Kherani, Professor, University of Toronto
Joel Loh, Lecturer, The University of Manchester/University of Toronto
Chengliang Mao, Associate Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University/University of Toronto
Christos Maravelias, Professor, Princeton University
Nhat Truong Nguyen, Assistant Professor, Concordia University/University of Toronto
Paul O'Brien, Associate Professor, York University/University of Toronto
Geoffrey A. Ozin, Team leader, Distinguished Professor, University of Toronto
Doug D. Perovic, Professor, University of Toronto
Chenxi Qian, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Mohini M. Sain, Professor, University of Toronto
Todd Siler, Scientific Artist, ArtScience Productions, LLC
Navid Soheilnia, Sr. Research Associate, University of Toronto
Aldo Steinfeld, Professor, ETH Zurich
Wei Sun, Professor, Zhejiang University/University of Toronto
Sanli Tang, Assistant Researcher, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences/University of Toronto
Athanasios (Athan) Tountas, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto
Ulrich Ulmer, Professor, Technische Hochschule N眉rnberg/University of Toronto
Chandra Veer Singh, Professor, University of Toronto
Thomas Wood, CTO, Proventus Global/University of Toronto
Aron Walsh, Professor, Imperial College London
Lili Wan, Professor, Inner Mongolia University/University of Toronto
Hong Wang, Professor, Nankai University/University of Toronto
Lu Wang, Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen/University of Toronto
Yang-Fan Xu, Associate Professor, Schoo of Advanced Energy, Sun Yat-sen University/University of Toronto
Tingjiang Yan, Professor, Qufu Normal University/University of Toronto
Xiaoliang Yan, Professor, Taiyuan University of Technology/University of Toronto
Q&A with Gas-phase Heterogeneous Catalysis for Solar Fuels Research
What were the biggest challenges in this project?
Geoffrey Ozin: The design, discovery, development, implementation, durability and scalability of high photon capture efficiency photocatalysts and photoreactors for the synthesis of sustainable commodity chemicals and fuels, a step towards the decarbonisation of the chemicals and petrochemicals industries.
What different strengths did different people bring to the team?
Geoffrey Ozin: Success in this endeavour requires close cooperation between a highly talented team of experimental, theoretical and computational scientists and engineers working alongside specialists in artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotic automation with the combined skill set to transform ideas in gas-phase heterogeneous photocatalysis to innovation in the development of solar refineries for the production of sustainable chemicals and fuels, a step towards decarbonisation of the fossil sourced and powered chemicals and petrochemicals industries.
Sanli Tang: Some team members with an engineering background constructed nanoscale optothermal theory for heterogeneous photochemistry, thus helped in the deconvolution of photo/thermal contributions and the design of catalysts. Others with an art expertise described the project well by graphical language.
Why is this work so important and exciting?
Geoffrey Ozin: When the solar fuels cluster first embarked more than a decade ago on chemical and engineering solutions to climate change, heterogeneous catalysis processes for the manufacture of the majority of commodity chemicals and fuels were driven thermochemically by fossil generated heat at very high temperatures. We asked why not power these processes photochemically instead with light making them more energy, carbon and environmentally efficient.
Where do you see the biggest impact of this technology/research being?
Geoffrey Ozin: Currently there exist five approaches competing for the production of sustainable chemicals and fuels. They comprise renewable electricity-enabled thermochemistry, electrochemistry, and plasma chemistry, as well as solar-powered thermochemistry and photochemistry, and biomass. They have all been subject to system-level techno-economic, life cycle and learning curve analyses, and the consensus seems to be that the photocatalysis approach the solar fuels team has pioneered could be on par with alternatives with respect to these performance indicators as well as the important economic metric of the dollar cost of a mole of sustainable chemicals and fuels.
How will this work be used in real life applications?
Geoffrey Ozin: The science to engineering achievements over the past decade for gas-phase heterogeneous photocatalysis have reached a technology readiness level where we can anticipate the development of pilot-scale solar-powered refineries to evaluate the technological and economic viability and environmental benefits of making certain chemicals and fuels sustainably using light as the power source.
How do you see this work developing over the next few years, and what is next for this technology/research?
Geoffrey Ozin: The main challenges remain the design and discovery of photocatalyst and photoreactor architectures using a synergistic integration of human and artificial intelligence to efficiently harvest photons with minimal parasitic light losses and thereby able to produce solar chemicals and fuels that are energy, cost and environmentally competitive with renewable alternatives.
What inspires or motivates your team?
Geoffrey Ozin: Philosophically, inspiration stems from the joy of discovery while motivated towards making this world a better place for all life on earth. Scientifically speaking the research of the Solar Fuels Cluster is driven by a commitment to combat climate change through innovative chemistry. The work focuses on developing energy and cost-effective technologies that convert carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into valuable chemicals and fuels using solar energy. This approach aims to create a zero-emission CO鈧� economy by harnessing sunlight for chemical transformations.
A key motivation for the team is the desire to close the carbon cycle by transforming waste CO鈧� into useful products, thereby reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases. The research includes designing high-performance photocatalysts and photoreactors that operate efficiently under varying sunlight conditions, eliminating the need for sun-tracking mechanisms as well as operating 24/7 with light-emitting diode sources. These innovations are intended to make sustainable fuel production more affordable and practical. The team's interdisciplinary approach, combining chemistry, engineering, and materials science, reflects their dedication to addressing the global challenge of climate change through scientific innovation.
What is the importance of collaboration in the chemical sciences?
Geoffrey Ozin: The grand challenges facing practitioners of the chemical sciences today and for the foreseeable future is the requirement of a skill set that criss-crosses the boundaries between the science and engineering disciplines. The goal is to accelerate a chemical discovery to a technological advance. These demands are expanding with the introduction of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and self-driving laboratories into chemistry.
This paradigm shift will require practitioners of today鈥檚 chemistry to acquire a blend of chemical with computational, programming, machine learning and data management skills, in addition to the ability to design, implement and analyse automated experiments from the discovery to application phase. In an increasingly competitive world, the acceleration of transforming a chemical discovery from the laboratory to practice will determine first to market and commercialisation success.
Christos Maravelias: The goal of the team is to address one of the most pressing challenges of our times, namely, the replacement of fossil-fuel-based liquid fuels with renewable alternatives. Converting advances in basic science (chemistry) into viable technologies requires extensive collaborations across scientists and engineers with diverse skillsets, from materials synthesis and characterisation to reactor engineering, and from process simulation to system-level analyses.
What does good research culture look like or mean to you?
Geoffrey Ozin: A good chemistry research culture means collaborative, safe, ethical, and curiosity-driven science where everyone feels valued and supported.
Chenxi Qian: Curious. Collaborative. Creative.
What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in the chemical sciences?
Geoffrey Ozin: Embrace the change and be adaptable. The future of chemical sciences is rapidly evolving with AI learning, automation, and self-driving labs transforming how research is done. For young chemists, it鈥檚 essential to build a strong foundation in core chemistry while also gaining skills in data science, coding, and digital tools. Stay curious and open to interdisciplinary learning 鈥� chemistry now intersects more than ever with computer science, engineering, and materials science. Be proactive in learning how AI and automation can enhance discovery, not replace creativity. Collaboration, critical thinking, and ethical awareness will remain vital. Most importantly, don鈥檛 lose sight of the impact 鈥� focus on solving real-world problems. The tools may change, but the mission remains: to innovate for a better world.