Unassisted HI photoelectrolysis using n-WSe2 solar absorbers.

Unassisted solar-driven photoelectrosynthetic HI splitting using membrane-embedded Si microwire arrays

Free-standing, membrane-embedded, Si microwire arrays have been used to affect the solar-driven, unassisted splitting of HI into H2 and I3 . The Si microwire arrays were grown by a chemical-vapor-deposition vapor–liquid–solid growth process using Cu growth catalysts, with a radial np junction then formed on each microwire. A Nafion proton-exchange membrane was introduced between the microwires ...

Nanoscale Effects in Water Splitting Photocatalysis.

From a conceptual standpoint, the water photoelectrolysis reaction is the simplest way to convert solar energy into fuel. It is widely believed that nanostructured photocatalysts can improve the efficiency of the process and lower the costs. Indeed, nanostructured light absorbers have several advantages over traditional materials. This includes shorter charge transport pathways and larger redox...

New Insight into the Angle Insensitivity of Ultrathin Planar Optical Absorbers for Broadband Solar Energy Harvesting

Two challenging problems still remain for optical absorbers consisting of an ultrathin planar semiconductor film on top of an opaque metallic substrate. One is the angle-insensitive mechanism and the other is the system design needed for broadband solar energy harvesting. Here, first we theoretically demonstrates that the high refractive index, instead of the ultrathin feature as reported in pr...

Statistical Properties of DLAs and sub-DLAs

Quasar absorbers provide a powerful observational tool with which to probe both galaxies and the intergalactic medium up to high redshift. We present a study of the evolution of the column density distribution, f(N, z), and total neutral hydrogen mass in high-column density quasar absorbers using data from a recent high-redshift survey for damped Lyman-α (DLA) and Lyman limit system (LLS) absor...

Metal Oxide Nanomaterials and their Application in Solar Photoelectrolysis of Water