Nanostructured Upconvertors for Advanced Solar Energy Harvesting

许多太阳能转换过程的效率，如太阳能光伏和太阳能氢，可以通过管理太阳光谱来提高。一种光子管理策略是上转换，即两个低能量、不可用的光子结合在一起，产生一个更高能量的光子。光化学上转换，在有机分子中进行光收集和能量汇集，近年来发展迅速，并有望提供实际应用所需的效率。该项目将激光光谱学、有机和材料化学以及纳米技术结合起来，实现将应用于太阳能电池和太阳能燃料的高效上转换器。

The efficiency of many solar energy conversion processes, such as solar photovoltaic and solar hydrogen, can be improved by management of the solar spectrum. One photon management strategy is up-conversion, whereby two lower energy, unusable photons are conjoined to bring about a higher energy photon. Photochemical up-conversion, where light harvesting and energy-pooling is performed in organic molecules, has been rapidly advanced in recent years, and promises to deliver the efficiencies required to find real-world application. This project brings together laser spectroscopy, organic and materials chemistry and nanotechnology to realise efficient up-convertors which will be applied to solar cells and solar fuels.