Engineering halide perovskites for artificial leaves

人造叶子的制造能够大规模地复制植物通过自然光合作用形成碳水化合物的过程，这是创造可持续社会的宏伟目标。成功有可能使我们不再依赖化石资源进行聚合物合成，制药和运输应用（例如汽车中的燃料），而是允许我们使用大气或烟道气CO2。皇家化学学会在最近发布的报告“太阳能燃料和人工光合作用”（2012年）中强调了这一潜力。与此相一致，美国能源部已将光驱动的二氧化碳转化确定为优先研究方向，化学工程师学会（IChemE）最近成立了一个新的特殊兴趣小组，致力于替代和可再生能源。许多活性半导体光催化剂如二氧化钛和氧化锌已被证明可以光催化转化CO2。然而，由于其固有的局限性，如低太阳能吸收和短寿命的光致电荷，它们在太阳照射下提供低产量的产品。为了使CO2太阳能光催化还原成为可行的商业技术，需要对新材料进行进一步研究。该研究项目旨在开发具有卤化物钙钛矿的人造叶子，这种新型材料在光化学领域取得了前所未有的成功，但由于它们具有化学和结构不稳定性，因此在光化学领域尚未开发。我们将开发智能方法，使用导电层保护它们免受分解，并设计和优化有利于其光催化活性和保存的反应器和反应条件。通过这种方式，卤化物钙钛矿将成为锂离子电池领域的新领跑者，确保为当前和未来几代人提供更可持续的清洁能源和原料组合。

The manufacturing of artificial leaves that reproduces at larger scale what plants do when they form carbohydrates by natural photosynthesis is a grand ambition for the creation of a sustainable society. Success has the potential to cease our dependence on fossil sources for polymer syntheses, pharmaceutical manufacture, and transport applications (e.g. fuels in cars) and instead allow us to use atmospheric or flue gas CO2. The Royal Society of Chemistry emphasises this potential in the recently launched report "Solar Fuels and Artificial Photosynthesis" (2012). In line with this, the US Department of Energy has identified the photo-driven conversion of CO2 as a priority research direction and The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) has recently launched a new special interest group dedicated to alternative and renewable energy. Many active semiconductor photocatalysts such as titania and zinc oxide have been proven to photocatalytically convert CO2. However, they offer low yields of products under sun irradiation due to their intrinsic limitations such as low solar absorption and short lifetime of photoinduced charges. To make CO2 solar photocatalytic reduction a viable and commercial technology further research on novel materials is needed. This research project aims to develop artificial leaves with halide perovskites, novel materials of unprecedented success in photovoltaics that remain unexplored in photocatalysis because they suffer from chemical and structural instability. We will develop smart approaches to protect them from decomposition using conductive layers and moreover design and optimise the reactors and reaction conditions that favour their photocatalytic activity as well as their preservation. This way halide perovskites will become a new front-runner in the field of photocatalysis, ensuring important advances towards a more sustainable mix of clean energy and feedstocks for current and future generations.