Dr. Toma’s research interests include carbon neutral energy sources that are scalable, deployable, and cost effective, which will be required at an unprecedented scale to halt the energy crisis. Photoelectrocatalysis is one of the most promising methods to store bulk renewable energy in solar fuels for use on demand. Her specific interests lie in the synthesis, characterization, and integration of light absorber/catalyst assemblies, and on the development of in situ and operando microscopy techniques to study energy efficient systems. The characterization of interfaces and materials properties in nano and mesostructured integrated devices, and the understanding of structure-activity relationships in such materials will enable the development of novel, highly efficient and stable functional systems for solar fuel production. In JCAP, Dr. Toma is developing a research program based on materials synthesis, integration, and characterization focusing on: synthesis and characterization of heterogenized electrocatalysts for the CO2 reduction reaction; synthesis of integrated light absorbers/catalyst systems as photoanodes and photocathodes; imaging of local chemical, morphological, and property inhomogeneity in nano and mesoscale materials by electron microscopy, conductive atomic force microscopy, and photoemission electron microscopy; imaging of interfaces and thin films by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy to promote the understanding of fundamental mechanism of catalytic systems, and structural and microscopy characterization by synchrotron-based techniques.