SOLAR: High-Efficiency Solar Generation of Hydrogen Fuel from Novel "Tuned" Electrocatalytic Nanostructures

这个太阳能研究奖由数学和物理科学理事会的化学，材料研究和数学科学部门共同资助。 来自德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的三名科学家组成的团队专注于设计，开发，制造，测试和理解（通过数学建模）用于高效光电化学（PEC）设备的纳米结构半导体光催化剂的性能特征。 这些设备将用于通过水电解将太阳光子直接转化为氢燃料。 发现这些新型光催化剂的关键是在纳米尺度上发现新的组成和结构。 计算数学和快速合成和筛选工具的组合用于揭示结构/功能关系。 虽然PEC系统的建模已经在宏观尺度上进行，但行为在纳米尺度上发生显著变化，并且这些系统以前没有被模拟过。 该研究小组制备了由快速筛选技术确定的有前途的材料组成的纳米结构PEC薄膜，并通过数学建模和光电化学实验来细化这些结构。 纳米结构的薄膜使用称为反应弹道沉积（RBD）的技术生长。 该技术能够调节光催化和光学性质，以获得高可见光活性。 除了研究人员努力从水和阳光中开发替代能源外，该组织还为高中生制作了英语和西班牙语的能源动画视频。 来自四年制本科院校的高中生研究人员和教师在夏季协助研究工作，设计和建造实验仪器，并与国家实验室和其他大学的科学家合作。

This award on solar energy research is co-funded by the Divisions of Chemistry, Materials Research, and Mathematical Sciences of the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The team of three scientists from the University of Texas at Austin is focused on the design, development, fabrication, testing, and understanding, (through mathematical modeling) of performance characteristics of nanostructured, semiconducting photocatalysts for high efficiency photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices. These devices will be used for the direct conversion of solar photons into hydrogen fuel via water electrolysis. The key to the discovery of these new photocatalysts is finding new compositions and structures at the nanometer scale. A combination of computational mathematics and rapid synthesis and screening tools are used to reveal structure/function relationships. Although the modeling of PEC systems has been performed at the macroscale, the behavior changes significantly at the nanoscale and these systems have not been simulated previously. The research group prepares nanostructured PEC thin films of promising materials compositions as identified by the rapid screening techniques and refines these structures via mathematical modeling and photoelectrochemical experiments. The nanostructured films are grown using a technique referred to as reactive ballistic deposition (RBD). This technique enables the tuning of photocatalytic and optical properties for high visible-light activity. In addition to the researchers' efforts to develop alternative energy sources from water and sunlight, the group is creating streaming animated videos on energy for high school students in both English and Spanish. High school student researchers and faculty from four-year undergraduate institutions assist in the research efforts during the summer months, designing and constructing experimental apparatus and collaborating with scientists at the national laboratories and at other universities.