Juyoung Leem

Bio

Juyoung Leem received her B.S. and M.S. from KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Republic of Korea, and Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), all in mechanical engineering. During doctoral training under the guidance of Professor SungWoo Nam, Juyoung has studied mechanical self-assembly of two-dimensional (2D) materials for advanced functionalities including nanoplasmonic and nanoelectronic applications. Juyoung received a Graduate Fellowship from the Korean Government Scholarship Program (2013-2015; for Ph.D. program) and Teaching Fellowship in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering in UIUC (2018).

Plasmonically-enhanced hydrogen evolution at 2D materials

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which produces energy-dense hydrogen fuel from water using solar energy, suggests a way of sustainable energy production. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) is a promising photocatalytic material due to its high in-plane carrier mobility, catalytic activity, and visible range bandgap energy. Particularly, monolayer MoS₂ exhibits higher photocatalytic activity compared to its bulk counterparts, and its high photocatalytic activity originates from high-energy edge sites. In addition, plasmonic nanostructures are often integrated into photocatalytic material systems to enhance HER efficiency by injecting plasmonic hot-electrons or enhancing optical absorption. The goal of the proposed work is 1) to achieve a material system of atomically thin MoS₂ with nanopores and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and 2) to demonstrate enhanced HER efficiency by utilizing the unique material properties of MoS₂ in combination with plasmonic effects from Au NPs. Throughout this proposed work, a novel way to achieve an atomically thin material system optimized for higher HER efficiency will be demonstrated, and the potential of plasmonically-enhanced, 2D material-based HER will be investigated.