Advisor: Jay Whitacre,
MSE.
In the field of photoelcetrochemical energy conversion,
the use of dye-sensitized n-type titanium dioxide
as a photosensitive electrode is well known. A
liquid redox electrolyte is then coupled with this
material to achieve maximum solar-to-electric conversion
efficiencies. However, this type of photocell has
commercialization issues related to the liquid
electrolyte employed. To overcome these issues,
solid-state configurations based on inorganic hole
conductors that eliminate the need for the liquid
electrolyte have been proposed. Unfortunately,
theses materials (such as copper thiocyanate or
spirobisfluorene-connected aryl amine) suffer from
low hole mobilities, low carrier densities, and
a high probability of current loss through recombination,
leading to solar/electric efficiencies of about
1-2%. The work to be conducted in the course of
this REU summer project is aimed at significantly
increasing this cell efficiency by replacing the
solid-state hole conductors with solid proton conductors
borrowed from fuel cell technologies. Several different
proton conducting membranes mixed with a proton-reactive
electrode material will be created and tested,
followed by the construction and testing of a crude
photo-cell that will be designed to generate solar
power.
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