Organic Semiconductor Based Devices for Solar Water Splitting

All inorganic semiconductor nanowire mesh for direct solar water splitting.

The generation of chemical fuels via direct solar-to-fuel conversion from a fully integrated artificial photosynthetic system is an attractive approach for clean and sustainable energy, but so far there has yet to be a system that would have the acceptable efficiency, durability and can be manufactured at a reasonable cost. Here, we show that a semiconductor mesh made from all inorganic nanowir...

Plasmonic nanoparticle-semiconductor composites for efficient solar water splitting

Modeling, Simulation, and Implementation of Solar-Driven Water-Splitting Devices.

An integrated cell for the solar-driven splitting of water consists of multiple functional components and couples various photoelectrochemical (PEC) processes at different length and time scales. The overall solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency of such a system depends on the performance and materials properties of the individual components as well as on the component integration, over...

Solar water splitting cells.

Energy harvested directly from sunlight offers a desirable approach toward fulfilling, with minimal environmental impact, the need for clean energy. Solar energy is a decentralized and inexhaustible natural resource, with the magnitude of the available solar power striking the earth’s surface at any one instant equal to 130 million 500 MW power plants.1 However, several important goals need to ...

Visible light-driven pure water splitting by a nature-inspired organic semiconductor-based system.

For the first time, it is demonstrated that the robust organic semiconductor g-C3N4 can be integrated into a nature-inspired water splitting system, analogous to PSII and PSI in natural photosynthesis. Two parallel systems have been developed for overall water splitting under visible light involving graphitic carbon nitride with two different metal oxides, BiVO4 and WO3. Consequently, both hydr...