About my Research Project

“What is a Theoretical Chemist doing?” you might wonder. In my Research Fellowship from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), I am working on the Theoretical description of nuclear quantum effects in photocatalytic reactions.

The project deals with photoacids and their potential application in water treatment devices. The process of photoacidity involves an electronic excitation and the transfer of a proton, both closely coupled to each other. In such processes, the quantum character of the protons is no longer negligible. Therefore, I am working on methods to treat protons as quantum particles—on the same level as we treat the electrons. Read the full project description (auch auf Deutsch verfügbar) in the DFG project database Gepris.