Engineering manufacturable next generation photocatalytic nanomaterials for high efficiency hydrogen fuel generation

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Worldwide energy usage is on track to double from current levels to approximately 40 TW by 2050. With 80% of current global energy usage arising from fossil fuels, existing energy usage growth trends are therefore expected to exacerbate atmospheric green house gas levels and correlated climate change phenomena over the next 40 years, with ground transportation contributing to near 30% of energy usage. To address growing global energy needs, new cost effective manufacturable technologies are needed that are both environmentally safe and provide the necessary energy density for automotive transportation. However, solar energy hitting the Earth's surface exceeds that of 100 million 500 MW power plants. Hence, manufacturable solar energy nanomaterials represent a major opportunity to address rapidly growing worldwide energy demands and climate trends -- and an important manufacturing export market opportunity for Canada. However, solar energy suffers from intermittent day-night cycle power generation. Though this can be alleviated through storage mechanisms, an optimal solution resides in the direct conversion of solar energy into fuels through artificial photosynthesis. In this manner, sunlight is directly converted into hydrogen and oxygen through the photocatalytic splitting of water in tandem solar cells and associated architectures. However, the performance of current photocatalysts is well below that needed for practical automotive applications and their performance, even with the same elemental composition, varies widely based on surface morphology, carrier transport, and crystallinity. It is the goal of this proposal to develop a systematic engineering design approach to produce manufacturable photocatalytic oxide nanomaterials based on lower cost elements (rather than expensive noble metals) possessing high hydrogen fuel generation efficiencies. Upon completion of the proposal, we aim to transfer the technologies developed to our industrial partners for the greater benefit of the Canadian manufacturing industry.