Photoelectrochemical Energy Conversion

Photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical conversion of solar energy.

The Sun provides approximately 100,000 terawatts to the Earth which is about 10000 times more than the present rate of the world's present energy consumption. Photovoltaic cells are being increasingly used to tap into this huge resource and will play a key role in future sustainable energy systems. So far, solid-state junction devices, usually made of silicon, crystalline or amorphous, and prof...

Semiconductor nanowires for photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical energy conversion

Semiconductor nanowires (NW) possess several beneficial properties for efficient conversion of solar energy into electricity and chemical energy. Due to their efficient absorption of light, short distances for minority carriers to travel, high surface-to-volume ratios, and the availability of scalable synthesis methods, they provide a pathway to address the low cost-to-power requirements for wi...

Design of semiconductor photoelectrochemical systems for solar energy conversion

Semiconductor-Based Photocatalytic, Photoelectrochemical, and Photovoltaic Solar-Energy Conversion

Semiconductor-based photocatalytic, photoelectrochemical, and photovoltaic solar-energy conversion has been considered very promising to address the energy and environmental challenges. At the heart of the technology is the lack of suitable semiconductor materials and efficient systems that can perform the solar-energy conversion efficiently and inexpensively. Much work needs to be done in this...

Photoelectrochemical Solar Energy Storage Cells

Although society’s electrical needs are largely continuous, clouds and darkness dictate that photovoltaic solar cells have an intermittent output. A photoelectrochemical solar cell (PEC) can generate not only electrical but also electrochemical energy and provide the basis for a system with an energy-storage component (PECS). Sufficientlyž energetic inQ1 solation incident on semiconductors can ...