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Moving towards the low cost Solar Generation of H2 fuel - How Metal Oxide Heterojunctions can make this a reality

迈向低成本太阳能发电氢气燃料 - 金属氧化物异质结如何使这成为现实

基本信息

批准号：
1829286
负责人：
金额：
--
依托单位：
Imperial College London
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Studentship
财政年份：
2016
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2016 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1829286
关键词：
Moving towards low cost Solar

项目摘要

The release of CO2 from the combustion of fossil fuels is the primary cause of Global Warming, causing pervasive and lasting damage to the earth's climate and ecosystems. To mitigate the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change an immediate and extensive reduction in CO2 emission must occur.Sunlight is mankind's largest energy source, which we must exploit if we are to reduce CO2 emissions and minimise Global Warming. Natural photosynthesis is the perfect example how sunlight can be used to produce renewable fuel. Bio-inspired approaches - artificial photosynthesis - have shown great promise. One particularly promising approach is the solar driven photolysis of water - water splitting - which produces hydrogen fuel; a fuel that burns cleanly back to water without any CO2 release. However, an economically viable water splitting device remains elusive. Many metal oxide semiconductors are capable of water splitting. Metal oxides can be durable, possess low toxicity and can be grown by low cost methodologies. They also have the potential to stabilise less durable materials with promising electronic properties. This PhD research project tries to address whether or not metal oxide based water splitting devices, composed of inexpensive earth abundant elements, can be produced by an industrially up-scalable method (namely chemical vapour deposition) and show competitive efficiencies and lifetimes. Many strategies for improving the performance of metal oxide devices will be addressed, which include stacking metal oxide layers (i.e. forming heterojunctions) and using catalysts, also made of earth abundant elements. Furthermore, the electronic behaviour upon light excitation of metal oxide heterojunctions have rarely been studied. Therefore, a form of laser flash spectroscopy (transient absorption spectroscopy) that can monitor the electronic behaviour of metal oxide heterojunction structures will also be used. Not only is this imperative for understanding how metal oxide heterojunctions function, but also to realise their limitations so that design strategies can be formed for improving them.

化石燃料燃烧释放的二氧化碳是全球变暖的主要原因，对地球的气候和生态系统造成广泛和持久的破坏。为了减轻气候变化的潜在灾难性影响，必须立即广泛减少二氧化碳的排放。阳光是人类最大的能源，如果我们要减少二氧化碳排放，最大限度地减少全球变暖，我们必须利用阳光。自然光合作用是如何利用阳光生产可再生燃料的完美例子。受生物启发的方法--人工光合作用--已经显示出巨大的前景。一种特别有前途的方法是太阳能驱动的水的光解-水分裂-产生氢燃料;一种清洁燃烧回水而不释放任何二氧化碳的燃料。然而，经济上可行的水裂解装置仍然难以捉摸。许多金属氧化物半导体能够分解水。金属氧化物可以是耐用的，具有低毒性，并且可以通过低成本方法来生长。它们还具有稳定具有有前途的电子特性的不太耐用的材料的潜力。这个博士研究项目试图解决由廉价的地球丰富元素组成的基于金属氧化物的水分解装置是否可以通过工业上可扩展的方法（即化学气相沉积）生产，并显示出具有竞争力的效率和寿命。将解决用于改善金属氧化物器件的性能的许多策略，其中包括堆叠金属氧化物层（即形成异质结）和使用也由地球丰富的元素制成的催化剂。此外，金属氧化物异质结在光激发下的电子行为很少被研究。因此，还将使用可以监测金属氧化物异质结结构的电子行为的激光闪光光谱（瞬态吸收光谱）的形式。这不仅是理解金属氧化物异质结如何发挥作用的必要条件，也是认识到它们的局限性，以便形成改进它们的设计策略。