Making solar fuels by artificial photosynthesis

Song, Wenjing; Chen, Zuofeng; Brennaman, M. Kyle; Concepcion, Javier J.; Patrocínio, Antonio Otávio T.; Iha, Neyde Yukie Murakami; Meyer, Thomas J.

doi:10.1351/pac-con-10-11-09

Cited by 128 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Hydrogen, carbon monoxide, C 1 hydrocarbons, and syngas are the most commonly produced fuels and are derived from water or water and CO 2 (6,16,17). Hydrogen produced via the water-splitting reaction (WSR, reaction 1) is arguably the easiest to produce and stores the most energy on a mass basis (kJ/kg); however, it is not a particularly attractive replacement fuel for transportation, due to technological issues with low-volume energy density, safe storage, and transportation (18).…”

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confidence: 99%

RETRACTED: Solar photothermochemical alkane reverse combustion

Chanmanee

Islam

Dennis

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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A one-step, gas-phase photothermocatalytic process for the synthesis of hydrocarbons, including liquid alkanes, aromatics, and oxygenates, with carbon numbers (Cn) up to C13, from CO2 and water is demonstrated in a flow photoreactor operating at elevated temperatures (180–200 °C) and pressures (1–6 bar) using a 5% cobalt on TiO2 catalyst and under UV irradiation. A parametric study of temperature, pressure, and partial pressure ratio revealed that temperatures in excess of 160 °C are needed to obtain the higher Cn products in quantity and that the product distribution shifts toward higher Cn products with increasing pressure. In the best run so far, over 13% by mass of the products were C5+ hydrocarbons and some of these, i.e., octane, are drop-in replacements for existing liquid hydrocarbons fuels. Dioxygen was detected in yields ranging between 64% and 150%. In principle, this tandem photochemical–thermochemical process, fitted with a photocatalyst better matched to the solar spectrum, could provide a cheap and direct method to produce liquid hydrocarbons from CO2 and water via a solar process which uses concentrated sunlight for both photochemical excitation to generate high-energy intermediates and heat to drive important thermochemical carbon-chain-forming reactions.

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confidence: 99%

RETRACTED: Solar photothermochemical alkane reverse combustion

Chanmanee

Islam

Dennis

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…10a). [88][89][90] In such a cell, one electrode compartment of such cell is a spatially separated photoanode for water oxidation and the other electrode compartment is a physically separated cathode for CO 2 reduction. The two electrode compartments are separated by a proton exchange membrane, which allows for proton diffusion and charge balance.…”

Section: Dye-sensitized Photoelectron-synthetic Li-redox Flow Cellmentioning

confidence: 99%

A chemistry and material perspective on lithium redox flow batteries towards high-density electrical energy storage

et al. 2015

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Electrical energy storage system such as secondary batteries is the principle power source for portable electronics, electric vehicles and stationary energy storage. As an emerging battery technology, Li-redox flow batteries inherit the advantageous features of modular design of conventional redox flow batteries and high voltage and energy efficiency of Li-ion batteries, showing great promise as efficient electrical energy storage system in transportation, commercial, and residential applications. The chemistry of lithium redox flow batteries with aqueous or non-aqueous electrolyte enables widened electrochemical potential window thus may provide much greater energy density and efficiency than conventional redox flow batteries based on proton chemistry. This Review summarizes the design rationale, fundamentals and characterization of Li-redox flow batteries from a chemistry and material perspective, with particular emphasis on the new chemistries and materials. The latest advances and associated challenges/ opportunities are comprehensively discussed.

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“…In a dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cell (DSPEC), a wide band gap, nanoparticle oxide film, typically TiO 2 , is derivatized with a surface-bound molecular assembly or assemblies for light absorption and catalysis (6)(7)(8). In a DSPEC, visible light is absorbed by a chromophore, initiating a series of events that culminate in water splitting: injection, intraassembly electron transfer, catalyst activation, and electron transfer to a cathode or photocathode for H 2 production.…”

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Visible photoelectrochemical water splitting into H ₂ and O ₂ in a dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cell

Alibabaei

Sherman

Norris

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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A hybrid strategy for solar water splitting is exploited here based on a dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cell (DSPEC) with a mesoporous SnO 2 /TiO 2 core/shell nanostructured electrode derivatized with a surface-bound Ru(II) polypyridyl-based chromophore-catalyst assembly. The assembly, [(4, H 2 ) 2 bpy) 2 Ru(4-Mebpy-4'-bimpy)Ru (tpy) (OH 2 dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cell | water oxidation | core/shell A lthough promising, significant challenges remain in the search for successful strategies for artificial photosynthesis by water splitting into oxygen and hydrogen or reduction of CO 2 to reduced forms of carbon (1-5). In a dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cell (DSPEC), a wide band gap, nanoparticle oxide film, typically TiO 2 , is derivatized with a surface-bound molecular assembly or assemblies for light absorption and catalysis (6-8). In a DSPEC, visible light is absorbed by a chromophore, initiating a series of events that culminate in water splitting: injection, intraassembly electron transfer, catalyst activation, and electron transfer to a cathode or photocathode for H 2 production. Sun and coworkers have recently demonstrated visible-light-driven water splitting with a coloading approach combining Ru(II) polypyridyl-based light absorbers and catalysts on TiO 2 (9). The efficiency of DSPEC devices is dependent on interfacial dynamics and competing kinetic processes. A major limiting factor is the requirement for accumulating multiple oxidative equivalents at a catalyst site to meet the 4e − /4H + demands for oxidizing water to dioxygen (2H 2 O -4e − -4H + → O 2 ) in competition with back electron transfer of injected electrons to the oxidized assembly.One approach to achieving structural control of local electron transfer dynamics at the oxide interface in dye-sensitized devices is by use of nanostructured core/shell electrodes (10-12). In this approach, a mesoporous network of nanoparticles is uniformly coated with a thin oxide overlayer prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD). We have used core/shell electrodes to demonstrate benzyl alcohol dehydrogenation (13). This approach has also been used to enhance the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (14,15). Recently, we described the use of a core/shell consisting of an inner core of a nanoparticle transparent conducting oxide, tin-doped indium oxide (nanoITO), and a thin outer shell of TiO 2 for water splitting by visible light (16 Fig. 1A, provided the basis for a photoanode in a DSPEC application with a Pt cathode for H 2 generation with a small applied bias in an acetate buffer at pH 4.6.Application of the core/shell structure led to a greatly enhanced efficiency for water splitting compared with mesoscopic, nanoparticle TiO 2 but the per-photon absorbed efficiency of the resulting DSPEC was relatively low and problems arose from longterm instability due to loss of the assembly from the oxide surface in the acetate buffer at pH 4.6. The latter is problematic because the rate of water oxidation is enhanced by added buffer bases...

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Making solar fuels by artificial photosynthesis

Cited by 128 publications

References 49 publications

RETRACTED: Solar photothermochemical alkane reverse combustion

RETRACTED: Solar photothermochemical alkane reverse combustion

A chemistry and material perspective on lithium redox flow batteries towards high-density electrical energy storage

Visible photoelectrochemical water splitting into H ₂ and O ₂ in a dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cell

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Making solar fuels by artificial photosynthesis

Cited by 128 publications

References 49 publications

RETRACTED: Solar photothermochemical alkane reverse combustion

RETRACTED: Solar photothermochemical alkane reverse combustion

A chemistry and material perspective on lithium redox flow batteries towards high-density electrical energy storage

Visible photoelectrochemical water splitting into H 2 and O 2 in a dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cell

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Product

Resources

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Visible photoelectrochemical water splitting into H ₂ and O ₂ in a dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cell