Practical challenges in the development of photoelectrochemical solar fuels production

Mark T. Spitler; Miguel A. Modestino; Todd G. Deutsch; Chengxiang X. Xiang; James R. Durrant; Daniel V. Esposito; Sophia Haussener; Stephen Maldonado; Ian D. Sharp; Bruce A. Parkinson; David S. Ginley; Frances A. Houle; Thomas Hannappel; Nathan R. Neale; Daniel G. Nocera; Paul C. McIntyre

doi:10.1039/C9SE00869A

Practical challenges in the development of photoelectrochemical solar fuels production†

Mark T. Spitler,

‡*^a Miguel A. Modestino,

‡^b Todd G. Deutsch,

‡^c Chengxiang X. Xiang,

‡^d James R. Durrant,

‡^e Daniel V. Esposito,

‡^f Sophia Haussener,

‡^g Stephen Maldonado,

‡^h Ian D. Sharp,‡ⁱ Bruce A. Parkinson,‡^j David S. Ginley,‡^k Frances A. Houle,

‡^l Thomas Hannappel,‡^m Nathan R. Neale,

‡^k Daniel G. Nocera

‡ⁿ and Paul C. McIntyre ‡^o

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
E-mail: spi1tlerm@email.unc.edu

^b Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, New York University, New York, NY, USA

^c National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Chemistry and Nanoscience Center, Golden, CO, USA

^d Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

^e Department of Chemistry, Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London, SPECIFIC IKC, University of Swansea, UK

^f Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

^g Institute of Mechanical Engineering, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

^h Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

ⁱ Walter Schottky Institute, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

^j Department of Chemistry, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

^k National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA

^l Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

^m Institute for Physics, University of Ilmenau, Ilmenau, Germany

ⁿ Department of Chemistry, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

^o Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

Abstract

This article addresses the challenges presented by photoelectrochemical solar fuels technology in a discussion that begins with a functioning device and proceeds to the more fundamental science of its component parts. In this flow of discussion issues are addressed that frame the discussion for the next, increasingly more fundamental topic. The analysis begins with a discussion of the need for an analytical facility for confirmation of reported efficiencies of solar fuels device prototypes and then progressively narrows its scope to prototype design, the discovery of novel materials and the design of durable interfacial structures for fuels evolution. Molecular hydrogen will be considered first as the target fuel since many of the challenges with hydrogen production are general and applicable to the more complex CO₂ reduction, which will be treated as a supplementary subject.

Sustainable Energy & Fuels

Practical challenges in the development of photoelectrochemical solar fuels production†

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