Scalable plasmonic catalysts for CO2 reduction
Congratulations to Dr. Arnaud Weck (principal investigator) and his team members Drs. Elena Baranova, Karin Hinzer, and Pierre Berini, on being awarded $200,000 in funding to collaborate with the NRC on a project as part of the Materials for Clean Fuels Challenge Program.
Their research project brings together different disciplines (physics, materials, chemistry, and photonics) to address society’s unsustainable reliance on fossil fuels and their negative impacts of climate change by developing technologies capable of transforming CO2 into useful fuel. For this transformation to be efficient, catalyst materials are being developed that can harvest visible sunlight to reduce CO2 molecules into fuel. The project uses abundant and low-cost materials and techniques that will allow production of these catalytic systems at an industrial scale.
The research involves state-of-the art characterization techniques, experiments, and simulations, to optimize these new catalyst materials for the transformation of CO2 into useful fuel. These innovations have the potential to provide a sustainable source of fuel, and to help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions to targets required to limit global warming and to reduce our impact on ecosystems.
Click here to learn more about Dr. Weck’s research.
Terabit optical networks based on quantum dot lasers and photonic integration (TERAQD)
Congratulations to SUNLAB director Dr. Karin Hinzer (principal investigator) and University Research Chair Dr. Trevor Hall (co-principal investigator) on being awarded $299,970 in funding
to collaborate with the NRC on a project as part of the High-throughput and Secure Networks Challenge Program.
Their research project on terabit optical networks based on quantum dot lasers and photonic integration (TERAQD) will expand the laser bandwidth of the NRC'smode-locked InP based quantum dot lasers, enabling a larger number of channels to be multiplexed. TERAQD will also leverage the unique properties of quantum dots to enable stable and efficient operation over a range of 0 to 100° C.
These innovations have the potential to dramatically improve transmission of data and communications with remote regions across Canada while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from data traffic.
Click here to learn more about SUNLAB
Quantum dot multi-wavelength lasers for millimeter wave generation and transmission
Congratulations to MWPLab Director Dr. Jianping Yao (principal investigator) on being awarded $294,030 in funding to collaborate with the NRC on a project as part of the High Throughput and Secure Networks Challenge Program.
The research project aims to investigate and implement heterogeneous photonicintegration to develop fully integrated microwave photonic systems for the generation and transmission of millimeter-wave signals to be used in 5G and beyond wireless networks.
The future economic growth and social outcomes of our society will crucially depend on the capacity of individuals to rapidly find and manipulate information from diverse and distant sources. The technologies of optically supported 5G networks and beyond will play an important role in improving the capacity, mobility and performance of the future communications and information infrastructure.
Click here to learn more about Dr. Yao’s research at the MWPLab.
Learn more about the NRC’s Challenge programs and other NRC-funded collaborative research and development.