Henry Agbe

Henry Agbe

Wolfson College ha

Visiting student-University of Ghana

ha314@cam.ac.uk

Research interests

My research interest focuses on the design of nanostructured visible-light active photo catalyst for environmental and water splitting applications. Particularly, photocatalysis for oil spill and cyanide detoxification. Oil spill is a serious environmental issue that scientists are still battling with. The latest and arguably, the world's worst ocean oil spill in history-the Gulf of Mexico incident. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused havoc to marine ecology and affected surrounding communities. Conventional oil spill remediation methods include: Skimming, microorganism digestion, application of detergent and use of booms. However, these methods are not adequate in solving massive oil spill. In recent times, Nanotechnologies are being considered for oil spill remediation. These include: nano-dispersants, carbon nano-structured sorbents and photocatalysis. Similarly, mineral processing waste (cyanide) from tailings dam has also become problem of great concern. Cyanide spills can cause kidney dysfunction, mental disorder, skin problems, comer and even death. Though various methods exist for detoxifying cyanide, however, these also suffer various limitations. Metal oxide photocatalysis can be effective at degrading oil spill and detoxifying cyanide compounds (into less harmful species) since it utilities the sun to activate and drive the degradation process. It is therefore energetically sustainable and eco-compatible. This research work seeks to investigate methods to quantify the efficiency of metal oxide (TiO2, ZnO and CeO2) nanostructures in generating ROS and to study how these ROS can affect detoxification of cyanide compounds and the degradation of organic species such as oil spill.

Awards

2016-2017 Commonwealth Split-site (PhD) Scholarship-University of Cambridge.

2016-2017 AMSEN Bursary-University of Ghana.

2013-2014 Cambridge-Africa Alborada Research Fund.

2011-2012 Department of Health’s Bursary, Nanomedicine Award- Cranfield University.

2010-2011 Commonwealth Shared Scholarships-University of Cambridge.

Other roles

2016-2017 Organising Secretary-Cambridge University Ghanaian Society. http://cambridgeunighanasociety.appspot.com/

Other interest

Enjoy surfing, reading and being involved in Christian activities.

Selected Publications:

Agbe, H, The Prospect of Using Photocatalytic Metal Oxide Nanoparticles for Degrading Oil Spill-An Innovative Approach in environmental Remediation. Journal of Applied Thought (Multidisplinary Approach) 2013, 2 (1), 89-97.

Agbe. H., and Ducati.C, The Strange World of the Nanoscale. Journal of Applied Thought (Multidisciplinary Approach), 2014, 3 (2), 89-103.