Photoelectrochemical Films for Solar H2 Production: A Combinatorial CVD Approach

CBET-0828410Adomaitis自1972年Fujishima和Honda首次演示光辅助电解水以来，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项目中，很少有人解决这样的设备是否实用或环境合意的问题，以达到影响美国能源需求所需的规模。PIs计划从制造和产品生命周期的角度，通过PEC分解水来开发新的半导体材料和太阳能电池设备来生产氢气。PEC材料开发计划直接建立在PI项目的互补技能之上：Adomaitis集团针对材料性能和可制造性优化的组合化学气相沉积(CVD)反应器设计，以及Ehrman集团在通过火焰合成和其他制造技术开发用于PEC应用的掺杂铜氧化物纳米结构薄膜方面的专业知识。第一个是半导体薄膜加工的方法：PIS计划展示基于模型的组合CVD，以快速开发PEC应用的最佳效率的半导体材料。第二个目标是通过单衬底实验设计程序有效地研究整个范围的纳米结构CuO_1薄膜的性能，特别是作为薄膜形态的函数。最后，他们将应用在这项实验/计算方案中开发的经过验证的过程模拟器来调查使用当前商业CVD反应堆系统作为缩短我们的PEC设备商业化道路的可行性。广泛影响：该研究计划的结果有可能广泛影响绿色制造和能源生产技术。通过太阳能分解水来生产氢气构成了一种可持续的能源供应，因为太阳能设备将由丰富而无害的前体制造，几乎没有制造废物。这种太阳能制氢方法将自然地融入太阳能系统，使整个太阳光谱得到更有效的利用。三项教育举措将把太阳能生产的新技术和经济方面带入课堂。一个主要的顶石设计项目正在计划中，化学工程专业的高年级学生将根据研究中开发的半导体材料，评估大规模生产氢气的经济潜力。

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.