Artificial Photosynthesis: Membrane-Supported Assemblies that Use Sunlight to Split Water

Research Areas & Activities Solar Energy Rational Organic Semiconductor Material Design A Pathway Towards Breakthrough Performance in Solar Cells Design and Fabrication of the First All-Carbon-Based Solar Cell Upconverting Electrodes for Improved Solar Energy Conversion Advanced Electron Transport Materials for Application in Organic Photovoltaics (OPV) Ultra-High Efficiency Thermophotovoltaic Solar Cells Using Metallic Photonic Crystals as Intermediate Absorber and Emitter Nanostructured Materials for High-Efficiency Thin Film Solar Cells Photon Enhanced Thermionic Emission (PETE) for Solar Concentrator Systems Hot Carrier Solar Cell: Implementation of the Ultimate Photovoltaic Converter Plasmonic Photovoltaics Self-sorting of Metallic Carbon Nanotubes for High Performance Large Area Low Cost Transparent Electrodes Artificial Photosynthesis: Membrane-Supported Assemblies that Use Sunlight to Split Water Lateral Nanoconcentrator Nanowire Multijunction Photovoltaic Cells Molecular Solar Cells Advanced Materials and Devices for Low-Cost and High-Performance Organic Photovoltaic Cells Inorganic Nanocomposite Solar Cells by ALD Nanostructured Silicon-Based Tandem Solar Cells Photosynthetic Bioelectricity Nanostructured Metal-Organic Composite Solar Cells Ordered Bulk Heterojunction Photovoltaic Cells Biomass Energy Hydrogen Advanced Combustion CO₂ Capture CO₂ Storage Advanced Materials & Catalysts Advanced Coal Advanced Transportation Advanced Electric Grid Grid Storage Other Renewables Integrated Assessment Advanced Nuclear Energy Geoengineering Exploratory Efforts All Activities Analysis Activities Technical Reports

Research

Solar

Artificial Photosynthesis: Membrane-Supported Assemblies that Use Sunlight to Split Water

Start Date: August 2007
Status: Completed
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Investigators

Nathan S. Lewis and Harry B. Gray, Department of Chemistry; Harry A. Atwater, Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science, California Institute of Technology

Objective

This research seeks to develop a photoconversion system that can produce hydrogen and oxygen directly from sunlight. The proposed device is composed of a conductive membrane that must both absorb the solar radiation and support the initial charge separation. Electrons and holes are directed to different sides of the membrane, where two specifically designed organic catalysts assist water reduction and oxidation.

Background

Direct conversion of solar energy into chemical fuels may solve one of the principal shortcomings of conventional solar technologies – the intermittent nature of solar energy – by providing a medium for energy storage and distribution. The use of sunlight to produce hydrogen from splitting water by mimicking natural photosynthetic processes is an ideal solution to this challenge. However, no water splitting system has yet been demonstrated that produces hydrogen cheaply enough to compete with fossil fuels. Electrolyzer systems that are currently used in combination with photovoltaic cells are too expensive and not scalable to the level needed to make them a significant component of global energy production.

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the rod/sleeve membrane structure

The concept underlying this project involves using sunlight directly to produce hydrogen and oxygen in a system that absorbs light and produces charges to drive separate water reduction and oxidation half-reactions. The system consists of a conductive photocatalytic membrane composed of two photoactive inorganic electrodes with bandgaps chosen to maximize sunlight absorption (1.1-1.4eV) and with energy levels generating an overall separation potential exceeding 1.23V to allow water splitting. The membrane has a rod/sleeve design (see Figure 1) that combines long absorption length (along the rods) and short charge collection distance (across the rods). This design relaxes the purity constraint on the absorber and allows the use of cheap polycrystalline semiconductors. Photoanode and photocathode stability properties are optimized for oxidizing and reducing environments respectively, since they are not exposed to both simultaneously. Specifically designed inorganic catalysts are adsorbed on the membrane surface to assist water redox reactions. This project focuses specifically on molecular catalysts because their activity can be tuned through molecular synthesis.

Approach

Combinatorial chemistry methods will be used to identify new metal oxide-based photoelectrode materials. For this purpose, a modified inkjet printer has been developed that allows fast screening of hundreds of metal oxide compounds against bandgap and stability in contact with aqueous electrolytes under illumination. Once the optimal photoelectrode materials have been selected, the photoanode valence band edge will be tuned by carbon and/or nitrogen doping and the photocathode conduction band optimized by exploring different transition metals. The nanorod structure of the membrane will be created either by using alumina templates or by vapor-liquid solid synthesis of self-supported semiconductor nanorods. Different combinations of semiconductors (such as Si/Si, Si/Ge_xSi_1-x, GaAs/Ge, In_xGa_1-xN/InN heterostructure templates on GaN nanorods) will be explored to investigate these fabrication methods.

The development of catalytic water-reduction and water-oxidation species is a major task of this project. Low-valent, redox-rich iron and cobalt platforms that can access various one- and two-electron redox couples will be examined as the bases for water-reduction catalysts. The same molecular design concepts will also be applied to other metal systems based on inexpensive materials such as nickel or copper. Particular attention will be given to functional catalyst systems that feature design elements exhibited by highly active enzymatic hydrogenases, such as FeFe hydrogenase systems. In the search for water-oxidation catalysts, this project aims to develop enhanced systems that address key deficiencies, such as poor stability, large overpotential, and slow turnover. Since O-O bonding is most likely the main barrier to water oxidation, compounds that catalyze the oxidation of water to either oxygen or hydrogen peroxide will be the principal targets of this investigation. Specifically, mononuclear metal complexes, such as metal diothiolene complexes and other polynuclear metal complexes, will be examined.

Once the individual components listed above have been fully investigated, the final task of this project will consist of building and testing a full demonstration system.