CAREER:Nanostructured Binary and Ternary Phosphide Semiconductors for Photoelectrochemical Energy Conversion/Storage

材料研究部内的固态材料和化学计划支持该职业奖的活动。 这项工作的目标是探索，理解和应用高纵横比，纳米结构的二元和三元磷化物半导体作为太阳能捕获，转换和存储的材料。 这项工作专门针对合成类金刚石，地球丰富的磷化物，如GaP，BP，ZnSiP2，ZnGeP2，ZnSnP2，CdSiP2，CdGeP2和CdSnP2，这些半导体在光电化学系统中作为光电极材料在很大程度上尚未开发。 这项工作将表明，通常归因于所有这些材料的感知限制是外在的性质，可以克服明智的设计和剪裁其形态。 磷化物合金的太阳能应用的操作将通过单独的纳米线测量，稳态光电化学测量的合奏膜，和瞬态光响应测量。 这些数据将提供一个更完整的了解其光电性能时，制备为纳米线具有高的纵横比。 这项工作将证明，纳米结构磷化物二元和三元合金半导体有能力填补目前抑制可扩展的燃料形成光电化学电池建设的现有材料缺口，这些材料的发展也提供了探索替代染料敏化光电极设计的机会。 非技术性总结：该项目的主要目标是开发磷化物材料和材料界面，可用于太阳能转换/存储技术，这些技术有可能在全球范围内深刻影响能源的使用和分配。 该研究将侧重于详细分析材料成分和形态之间的相互作用对捕获，转换和利用太阳能的能力的影响。 参与这些活动的博士后研究员，研究生和本科生将接受材料表征技术，半导体器件物理学和与能量转换/存储领域直接相关的表面分析技术的培训和技能。 该项目还将开展以能源为主题的外联活动，旨在促进密歇根大学化学系与底特律地区中学生之间新的长期互动。 这些活动的中学生的目标是使科学背后的发明更清洁，更安全，更负担得起的可再生能源技术更真实的，有形的，诱人的，并突出在密歇根州内的能源科学有前途的职业选择。

TECHNICAL SUMMARY The Solid State Materials and Chemistry Program within the Division of Materials Research supports the activities of this CAREER award. The objectives of this work are to explore, understand, and apply high aspect ratio, nanostructured binary and ternary phosphide semiconductors as materials for solar energy capture, conversion, and storage. This work specifically targets the synthesis of diamond-like, earth-abundant phosphides such as GaP, BP, ZnSiP2, ZnGeP2, ZnSnP2, CdSiP2, CdGeP2, and CdSnP2, semiconductors which have been largely unexplored as photoelectrode materials in photoelectrochemical systems. This work will demonstrate that the perceived limitations commonly ascribed to all of these materials are extrinsic in nature and can be overcome by judicious design and tailoring of their morphologies. The operation of phosphide alloys for solar energy applications will be understood through individual nanowire measurements, steady-state photoelectrochemical measurements of ensemble films, and transient photoresponse measurements. These data will provide a more complete understanding of their optoelectronic properties when prepared as nanowires with high aspect ratios. This work will both demonstrate that nanostructured phosphide binary and ternary alloy semiconductors have the capacity to fill the existing materials gap currently inhibiting the construction of scalable, fuel-forming photoelectrochemical cells and that the development of these materials also affords the opportunity to explore alternative dye-sensitized photoelectrode designs. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The broad goals of this project are to develop phosphide materials and material interfaces that could be used in solar energy conversion/storage technologies that have the potential to profoundly influence energy usage and distribution at a global scale. The research will focus on a detailed analyses of the effect that the interplay between material composition and morphology has on the ability to capture, convert, and utilize solar energy. Postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate students involved in these activities will be trained and skilled in materials characterization techniques, semiconductor device physics, and surface analytical techniques directly relevant to the fields of energy conversion/storage. The project will also feature energy-themed outreach activities designed to seed new and long-term interactions between the Department of Chemistry at the University of Michigan and Detroit area middle school students. The goals of these activities for middle school students are to make the science behind the invention of cleaner, safer, and more affordable renewable energy technologies more real, tangible, and enticing and to highlight promising career options in energy sciences within the state of Michigan.