Dionne, Heinz and Jornada receive Keck foundation award for excited-state chemistry [2021/12]

Traditionally, chemical reactions take place in the electronic ground-state, i.e., when the electrons are occupying the lowest-energy configuration. In this scenario, one only exerts “broad brush” macroscopic control of the reaction by varying the temperature and concentration of the various gases.

Prof. Jornada, together with Profs. Dionne and Heinz, were selected by the Keck foundation to work on another paradigm for chemical reactions, where the electrons are in the excited state. By controlling where the excited electrons are located in space and their energy, there is the potential to drive much more selective and energy-efficient chemical reactions. We are looking forward to developing and applying our computational methods to help develop this nascent field.

Further details: http://www.wmkeck.org/grant-abstracts-final/research