Particle suspension reactors and materials for solar-driven water splitting

Fabian, David M.; Hu, Shu; Singh, Nirala; Houle, Frances A.; Hisatomi, Takashi; Domen, Kazunari; Osterloh, Frank E.; Ardo, Shane

doi:10.1039/c5ee01434d

Cited by 360 publications

(240 citation statements)

References 163 publications

(218 reference statements)

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“…[4] Direct photocatalysis has the advantage of being technologically simple and having a lower projected cost. [5] A large number of inorganic photocatalysts have been studied for hydrogen evolution. [6][7][8][9] By contrast, organic photocatalysts are much less explored, despite possible advantages such as tunable bandgaps, synthetic control over structure, good processability, and preparation from earth-abundant materials.…”

Section: Photocatalysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A Solution‐Processable Polymer Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution from Water

Woods

Sprick

Smith

et al. 2017

Advanced Energy Materials

147

128

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exhibit photocatalytic hydrogen evolution in 2009, [12] and many advances have been made since then. [13,14] After the potential of g-C 3 N 4 was first observed, while focusing on the hydrogen evolution half-reaction, interest has begun to shift to achieving overall water splitting using these materials. [15,16] However, the exact structure of most g-C 3 N 4 materials is unknown and the synthesis usually involves high temperature processing, which offers limited scope for fine-tuning structure and properties. Also, while g-C 3 N 4 can be produced from inexpensive starting materials, the synthetic yield of the material is typically low. [15,17] Of special relevance here, graphitic carbon nitrides are insoluble solids: as for many inorganic catalysts, this can present challenges in terms of processing.Rather few organic photocatalysts have been studied for hydrogen evolution other than g-C 3 N 4 . Recently, nitrogencontaining poly(azomethine) networks and covalent triazinebased frameworks (CTFs) were shown to have photocatalytic activity with the addition of platinum cocatalysts. [18,19] We have shown that a series of conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) could facilitate hydrogen evolution from water in the presence of a sacrificial electron donor, without any additional heavy metal cocatalyst. [20,21] Other CMPs have since been studied for photocatalysis [22,23] and recent studies have demonstrated that linear conjugated polymers can have high photocatalytic activities. [24,25] However, as with g-C 3 N 4 , none of these organic materials are soluble in common organic solvents. This insolu bility makes it more challenging to process these materials into functional composites. Moreover, photocatalysts are typically kept in suspension by stirring to prevent sedimentation, which results in loss of photocatalytic activity. [26] The loss of activity of insoluble catalysts can be prevented with the use of support substrates, [27] however, using solution processability allows the use of simpler supports and easier development of photoelectrodes.Soluble oligo(phenylene)s have been previously reported as photocatalysts, however, they displayed low activity, were only active under UV light, required a Ru cocatalyst and were only poorly soluble in organic solvents limiting processability. [28] More recently soluble metal-chelating polymers have been prepared although the photocatalytic activity of these polymers also appear to be very low with apparent quantum yields (AQY) below 3 × 10 −4 %. [29] The solubility of some alkylated conjugated polymers has also facilitated the preparation of polymer nanoparticles (PDots). [30,31] The preparation of these PDots enabled significant enhancements in rate over the pristine polymer although scalability and long-term stability of this approach has yet to be shown. Direct photocatalytic water splitting is an attractive strategy for clean energy production, but multicomponent nanostructured systems that mimic natural photosynthesis can be difficult to fabricate because of the insolubil...

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Section: Photocatalysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A Solution‐Processable Polymer Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution from Water

Woods

Sprick

Smith

et al. 2017

Advanced Energy Materials

147

128

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“…An extensive review of ultrafast carrier dynamics for solar fuels formation has been recently published. 19 Although this article has focused on photoelectrode based PEC systems, TA measurements can also be very useful for studying PEC systems based on suspensions of photocatalytic particles, which is the topic of the review article by Ardo et al 168 TA probes the change in absorption upon photoexcitation as a function of the pump-probe delay time. Probing band-toband transitions in the visible region reveals the electron and hole populations, while probing a sample in the IR region provides insight into molecular vibrations and/or conductive free carriers.…”

Section: In Situ Techniques For Evaluation Of Photoelectrodes With Himentioning

confidence: 99%

Methods of photoelectrode characterization with high spatial and temporal resolution

Esposito

Baxter

John

et al. 2015

Energy Environ. Sci.

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“…Solid suspensions have found a broad range of applications, and common design elements include the chemistry of the particles and/or liquid, solid particle size and morphology, particle surface chemistry, particle concentration and aggregate formation, and suspension rheological properties. 42,[90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97] For example, thermal conductivity can be dramatically modified with changes in particle concentration within a suspension, and thus, solid dispersions have been popular for thermal storage and transfer applications. 93 Similarly, electrical conductivity of suspensions can also be manipulated by appropriate suspension design, which has particular relevance to electrochemical applications.…”

Section: Solid Suspensions For Capacitive and Electrochemical Applmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review Article: Flow battery systems with solid electroactive materials

Koenig

2017

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phen

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Energy storage is increasingly important for a diversity of applications. Batteries can be used to store solar or wind energy providing power when the Sun is not shining or wind speed is insufficient to meet power demands. For large scale energy storage, solutions that are both economically and environmentally friendly are limited. Flow batteries are a type of battery technology which is not as well-known as the types of batteries used for consumer electronics, but they provide potential opportunities for large scale energy storage. These batteries have electrochemical recharging capabilities without emissions as is the case for other rechargeable battery technologies; however, with flow batteries, the power and energy are decoupled which is more similar to the operation of fuel cells. This decoupling provides the flexibility of independently designing the power output unit and energy storage unit, which can provide cost and time advantages and simplify future upgrades to the battery systems. One major challenge of the existing commercial flow battery technologies is their limited energy density due to the solubility limits of the electroactive species. Improvements to the energy density of flow batteries would reduce their installed footprint, transportation costs, and installation costs and may open up new applications. This review will discuss the background, current progress, and future directions of one unique class of flow batteries that attempt to improve on the energy density of flow batteries by switching to solid electroactive materials, rather than dissolved redox compounds, to provide the electrochemical energy storage.

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Particle suspension reactors and materials for solar-driven water splitting

Abstract: Reactor and particle design considerations of particle suspension reactors for solar photoelectrochemical water splitting.

Cited by 360 publications

References 163 publications

A Solution‐Processable Polymer Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution from Water

A Solution‐Processable Polymer Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution from Water

Methods of photoelectrode characterization with high spatial and temporal resolution

Review Article: Flow battery systems with solid electroactive materials

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