NSF/DOE Solar Hydrogen Fuel: New metal oxides for efficient hydrogen production via solar water splitting

到2050年，全球需要的15太瓦(1012瓦)新电力中，大部分必须来自无二氧化碳的来源。太阳能裂解制氢被认为是满足这一需求的首选之一，因为太阳能裂解产生的氢气不仅提供可再生和清洁的能源，而且还提供可储存的能源。正在向教授颁发奖项。与托莱多大学的严艳法、邓训明和尹万健合作，通过将理论设计、专用合成、器件制造和高级表征紧密结合起来，开发实现新型金属氧化物所需的概念和工艺，这些氧化物具有生产低成本、无毒、富含地球和高效光电化学(PEC)水分离系统的潜力。这些新的设计原则将从根本上改变发现PEC分水装置新材料的方法。它将避免通常的？反复试验？并大大加快了新材料的开发进程。该项目提供博士后、研究生和本科生的培训，为未来的可再生能源研究提供年轻的科学家。PIS将利用托莱多大学的“Girlsin Science”研讨会，为当地高中生提供“暑期研究机会”，参与与托莱多伍德沃德高中合作的科学与工程研究项目，并将为俄亥俄州S赖特中心提供技术管道，而PIC为PIS及其学生提供工业联系。该项目的总体目标是设计、合成和验证新的金属氧化物，这些氧化物不仅具有窄禁带和高光学吸收，而且还将满足其他高效光电极的标准，如长载流子扩散长度、低非辐射复合、适当的导电性和高量子产率。PIS计划在电子、原子和分子水平上提出和验证设计原则，这些原则将有助于设计符合所有高效光电极标准的新金属氧化物。这些里程碑将产生以下影响：(1)将开发并验证一套基本原理，以设计具有优化太阳能制氢性能的新型金属氧化物；(2)将开发新的体相和薄膜方法，以合成单相形式和适当的颗粒/薄膜结构的目标金属氧化物，以使有效的PEC水分离装置的技术得以验证；(3)将开发能够高效、稳定地进行PEC水分离的低成本和无毒的新金属氧化物；(4)将制造整个PEC水分离系统，以评估新金属氧化物的最终性能，并将向科学界传播；(5)将表征和了解新氧化物、结、界面和器件的基本性质，以便为目标1-3提供关键反馈，并进一步验证设计标准。

The majority of the 15 terawatts (1012 W) of new power needed across the globe by 2050 must come from CO2 -free sources. Hydrogen production via solar water splitting is considered one of the top choices to meet this need, because hydrogen produced via solar water splitting provides not only renewable and clean, but also storable energy. An award is being made to Profs. Yanfa Yan, Xunming Deng, and Wanjian Yin at the University of Toledo to develop the concepts and processes necessary to realize new metal oxides with the potential for producing low-cost, non-toxic, earth-abundant, and high efficiency photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting systems by closely integrating theoretical design, dedicated synthesis, device fabrication, and advanced characterization. These new design principles will fundamentally change the approach to discovery of new materials for PEC water splitting devices. It will avoid the usual ?trial-and-error? process and significantly speed up the process of developing new materials. This project offers training of postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduate students to provide young scientists for future renewable energy research. The PIs will use the "Girlsin Science" workshop at The University of Toledo, provide "Summer ResearchOpportunities" to local high school students, engage in the Research in Science and Engineering program partnering with Woodward High School in Toledo, and will provide a technology pipeline for Ohio?s Wright Center for PVIC, while PVIC provides industrial connections for the PIs and their students. The overarching goal of this project is to design, synthesize, and validate new metal oxides that will not only have narrow band gaps and high optical absorptions, but also will meet other criteria for efficient photoelectrodes such as long carrier diffusion lengths, low non-radiative recombination, appropriate electrical conductivity, and high quantum yield. The PIs plan to propose and validate design principles at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels that will facilitate the design of new metal oxides that meet all the criteria for highly efficient photoelectrodes. Milestones will yield the following impacts: (1) A fundamental set of principles will be developed and validated for designing novel metal oxides with properties optimized for solar hydrogen production; (2) Novel bulk and thin-film methods will be developed for synthesizing the targeted metal oxides in single-phase form and with appropriate grain/film structure to enable validation of the technologies in functioning PEC water splitting devices; (3) New metal oxides capable for efficient and stable PEC water splitting and which are low-cost and non-toxic will be developed; (4) Overall PEC water splitting systems will be fabricated to evaluate the ultimate performance of the new metal oxides and will be disseminated to the scientific community; (5) The fundamental properties of the new oxides, junctions, interfaces, and devices will be characterized and understood to provide critical feedback for goals 1-3 and to further validate the design criteria.