CAREER: Photoelectrochemical Investigation of Thin Film Hematite Solar Cells

在这个由化学部化学催化计划资助的项目中，密歇根州立大学化学系的哈曼教授将研究使用赤铁矿电极的水的光催化氧化。 将对薄膜赤铁矿电极进行一系列高度可控和系统的研究，包括研究接触电解质、电极界面和本体材料改性。 电化学，光电化学，光谱和显微镜测量的组合将被用来表征赤铁矿光催化剂的新配置。 还有待探索的是增加优化薄膜的光吸收的策略，包括通过原子层沉积和掺入等离子体纳米颗粒来创建高度有序的纳米结构。更广泛的影响包括培训本科生和研究生研究人员，并为地区高中开发一个使用赤铁矿电极的太阳能转换实验模块。 拟议的研究概述了几种方法，以大幅提高赤铁矿太阳能电池的能量转换效率。 这项研究的突破将对实现真正具有成本效益的太阳能转换和储存产生重大影响;这将通过促进我们的能源独立和减少碳排放而使社会受益匪浅。 此外，拟议工作的跨学科性质预计将影响不同的领域，包括材料化学，电化学和催化。 这项研究还涉及若干教学要点，这些要点将纳入各级教育活动，包括努力使科学和技术领域代表性普遍不足的群体参与进来。

In this project funded by the Chemical Catalysis Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Hamann of the Department of Chemistry at Michigan State University will investigate the photo-catalytic oxidation of water using hematite electrodes. A series of highly-controlled and systematic investigations on thin film hematite electrodes, including studying contacting electrolytes, the electrode interface and bulk material modifications, will be carried out. A combination of electrochemical, photoelectrochemical, spectroscopic and microscopic measurements will be employed to characterize the new configurations of hematite photo-catalysts. Also to be explored are strategies of increasing the light absorption of the optimized thin films including creating highly ordered nanostructures via atomic layer deposition and incorporating plasmonic nanoparticles. The broader impacts involve training undergraduate students and graduate student researchers and developing an experimental module on solar energy conversion using hematite electrodes for area high schools. The proposed research outlines several approaches to substantially improve the energy conversion efficiency of hematite solar cells. A breakthrough resulted from this research will have significant impact on the realization of truly cost-effective solar energy conversion and storage; this would benefit society tremendously by contributing to our energy independence and the mitigation of carbon emissions. In addition, the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed work is expected to impact diverse fields, including materials chemistry, electrochemistry, and catalysis. The research further involves several teaching points which will be integrated into educational activities at all levels, including the efforts to involve groups generally underrepresented in science and technology.