Photoelectrochemical Films for Solar H2 Production: A Combinatorial CVD Approach

自1972年Fujishima和Honda首次展示光辅助水电解以来，人们在开发光电化学（PEC）材料和系统方面付出了巨大的努力。许多研究项目都专注于提高这些设备的效率，而在那些已经成功的研究项目中，很少有人解决这样的问题，即这些设备是否实用，是否环保，是否需要大规模生产，以影响美国的能源需求。它们计划从制造和产品生命周期的角度出发，开发利用PEC分解水制氢的新型半导体材料和太阳能电池装置。PEC材料开发计划直接建立在项目pi的互补技能之上：Adomaitis集团的组合化学气相沉积（CVD）反应器设计用于材料性能和可制造性优化，以及Ehrman集团在通过火焰合成和其他制造技术开发用于PEC应用的掺杂氧化铜纳米结构薄膜方面的专业知识。智力价值：智力价值是根据要解决的三个特定技术挑战来定义的。第一个包括半导体薄膜加工方法：pi计划展示基于模型的组合CVD，用于快速开发具有最佳效率的半导体材料，用于PEC应用。第二个目标是通过单衬底实验设计程序，有效地研究纳米结构CuO1薄膜性能的完整范围，特别是作为薄膜形态的函数。最后，他们将应用本实验/计算提案中开发的经过验证的过程模拟器来研究使用当前商用CVD反应器系统作为缩短PEC设备商业化路径的可行性。更广泛的影响：本研究项目的成果具有广泛影响绿色制造和能源生产技术的潜力。太阳能分解水产生的氢气构成了可持续的能源供应，因为太阳能设备将由丰富而良性的前体制造，几乎没有制造废物。这种太阳能制氢方法将自然地整合到太阳能系统中，从而更有效地利用全太阳光谱。这三项教育倡议将把太阳能生产的新技术和经济方面带入课堂。一个主要的顶点设计项目正在计划中，大四的化学工程学生将评估基于研究中开发的半导体材料的大规模氢气生产的经济潜力。

CBET-0828410Adomaitis Since the original demonstration of photo-assisted water electrolysis by Fujishima and Honda in 1972, tremendous effort has gone into developing photoelectrochemical (PEC) materials and systems. Numerous research programs have focused on improving the efficiency of these devices, and of those that have been successful, few have addressed the issue of whether such devices would be practical or environmentally desirable to manufacture on the scale necessary to impact the US's energy requirements.The PIs plan to develop new semiconductor materials and solar cell devices for the production of hydrogen by the PEC decomposition of water with a manufacturing and product lifecycle perspective. The PEC materials development program builds directly on the complementary skills of the project PIs: the Adomaitis group's combinatorial chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor designs for material property and manufacturability optimization, and the Ehrman group's expertise in developing nanostructured films of doped copper oxide for PEC applications by flame synthesis and other manufacturing techniques.Intellectual Merit:The intellectual merit is defined in terms of three specific technological challenges to be addressed. The first consists of an approach to semiconductor thin-film processing: the PIs plan to demonstrate model-based combinatorial CVD for rapid development of semiconductor materials of optimal efficiency for PEC applications. The second goal is to efficiently investigate, by single-substrate design-of-experiment procedures, the complete range of nanostructured CuO1 film performance, particularly as a function of film morphology. Finally, they will apply the validated process simulators developed in this experimental/computational proposal to investigate the feasibility of using current commercial CVD reactor systems as a means of shortening the path to commercialization of our PEC devices.Broader Impact:The outcomes of this research program have the potential to broadly impact green manufacturing and energy production technologies. The production of H2 from the solar-powered splitting of water constitutes a sustainable energy supply in that the solar devices are to be manufactured from abundant and benign precursors with virtually no manufacturing waste products. This solar hydrogen production approach will integrate naturally into solar energy systems that enable more efficient use of the full solar spectrum.The three educational initiatives will bring new technological and economic aspects of solar energy production into the classroom. A major capstone design project is planned where senior chemical engineering students will evaluate the economic potential of large-scale H2 production based on the semiconductor materials developed in the research.