Solar Water Splitting Cells

Abstract

earned a B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Dayton in 2001 and as an undergraduate worked on conductive polymer syntheses at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. He completed an M.S. degree in 2004 and Ph.D. degree in 2008 at Portland State University and joined the Lewis group at Caltech in 2008. He is currently an NSF-ACCF postdoctoral fellow (2009) and has been studying the electrical characteristics of inorganic semiconductors in contact with conductive polymers. His research interests include molecular semiconductors for solar energy conversion, porphyrin macrocycles for optoelectronic applications, and catalyst materials for photoelectrolysis. Emily L. Warren received a B.S. in chemical engineering at Cornell University in 2005. She received an M.Phil in Engineering for Sustainable Development from Cambridge University in 2006. She is currently a graduate student in Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. Her research interests include semiconductor photoelectrochemistry, solar energy conversion, and semiconductor nanowires. She is currently a graduate student in Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, working under Nathan S. Lewis. James R. McKone is in his third year of graduate studies in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, working under Nathan S. Lewis and Harry B. Gray. In 2008 he graduated from Saint Olaf College with a Bachelor of Arts degree, double-majoring in music and chemistry. His current research focuses on semiconductor-coupled heterogeneous catalysis of the hydrogen evolution reaction using mixtures of earth-abundant transition metals. Shannon W. Boettcher earned his B.A. degree in chemistry from the University of Oregon, Eugene (2003), and, working with Galen Stucky, his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2008). Following postdoctoral work with Nate Lewis and Harry Atwater at the California Institute of Technology (2008-2010), he returned to the University of Oregon to join the faculty as an Assistant Professor. His research interests span synthesis and physical measurement with the goal of designing and understanding solid-state inorganic material architectures for use in solar-energy conversion and storage.

Mechanistic Parameters of Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation on LiMn2O4 in Comparison to Natural Photosynthesis

“…A common activity metric in the field of solar fuels is the voltage to obtain j disk =10 mA cm$\frac{-2}{\mathrm{disk}}$ because it matches a 10 % efficient solar cell 62, 63, 64. The LiMn 2 O 4 –carbon composite electrode provided 10 mA cm$\frac{-2}{\mathrm{disk}}$ at 0.520(2) V overpotential (1.749(2) V versus RHE) at pH 14, which is similar to or better than other first‐row transition metal nanoparticles such as MnO (0.51(4) V), Mn 2 O 3 (0.53(4) V), MnO 2 (0.50(3) V), Co 3 O 4 (0.50(1) V), and NiFe 2 O 4 (0.51(1) V), but higher than that of Mn 3 O 4 (0.43(2) V) 62.…”

Nickel Hydr(oxy)oxide Nanoparticles on Metallic MoS2 Nanosheets: A Synergistic Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…To address this challenge, many promising strategies such as photocatalytic or photoelectrochemical or electrocatalytic water splitting have been extensively explored 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Water electrolysis such as water‐alkali electrolyzers or chlor‐alkali electrolyzers currently adopted in industrial processes is more suitable for centralized hydrogen production because the input energy is electricity which can be easily concentrated and be converted from abundant but dispersive energy sources such as wind energy, tide energy, and solar energy 7, 8, 9.…”

Molybdenum Carbide Nanoparticles Coated into the Graphene Wrapping N‐Doped Porous Carbon Microspheres for Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Both in Acidic and Alkaline Media

“…The evolution of hydrogen through electrocatalytic splitting water is one of the important strategies for hydrogen production 2. Although the Pt‐based materials have been proven to be the most efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the high cost, limited supply, and poor durability hinder their global‐scale application 3, 4. Therefore, much effort has been dedicated to develop robust nonnoble‐metal HER catalysts,5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 such as cobalt‐, nickel‐, iron‐, tungsten‐, and molybdenum‐based materials.…”