Multi-Junction Artificial Photosynthetic Cell With Enhanced Photovoltages
Highly scalable fabrication methodologies and processesCan be used with existing solar cell technologies
Photovoltaic materialsSolar cellsGenerating hydrogen for fuel
UC Santa Barbara researchers have developed multi-junction photosynthetic units with novel architecture using simple low-cost electrochemical approaches that have the potential to obtain voltages sufficient to split water and/or reduce CO2 to fuels and chemicals in an efficient and stable manner. This process offers many applications including generating hydrogen for fuel, use in photovoltaic materials, and solar cells.
20160076154
Background Development of stable electroactive units for electricity generation or production of fuels and chemicals is essential, as the development of environmentally and economically sustainable energy sources using solar energy is an important unmet challenge. Although there exist increasingly efficient and decreasingly costly semiconductors used in photovoltaic applications (e.g. Si, Cu2S, CdSe, CdTe, SnS etc.), a major challenge is stabilizing these high-efficiency materials against photo corrosion when operating in the electrochemical environment of a PEC cell. Tech ID/UC Case 24373/2014-724-0 Related Cases 2014-724-0, 2013-150-0
USA
