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Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumSolar Cells Get Boost with Integration of Water-Splitting Catalyst onto Semiconductor
(Please note: Material from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Copyright concerns are nil.)
https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2016/11/09/water-splitting-catalyst-integrated-onto-semiconductor/
[font face=Serif][font size=5]Solar Cells Get Boost with Integration of Water-Splitting Catalyst onto Semiconductor[/font]
[font size=4]Berkeley Lab approach could lead to more stable, efficient artificial photosystems[/font]
News Release Sarah Yang (510) 486-4575 November 9, 2016
[hr]
[font size=3]Scientists have found a way to engineer the atomic-scale chemical properties of a water-splitting catalyst for integration with a solar cell, and the result is a big boost to the stability and efficiency of artificial photosynthesis.[/font]
Schematic of the multi-functional water splitting catalyst layer engineered using atomic layer deposition for integration with a high-efficiency silicon cell. (Credit: Ian Sharp/Berkeley Lab)
[font size=3]Led by researchers at the Department of Energys Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the project is described in a paper published this week in the journal Nature Materials.
The research comes out of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub established in 2010 to develop a cost-effective method of turning sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into fuel. JCAP is led by the California Institute of Technology with Berkeley Lab as a major partner.
The goal of this study was to strike a careful balance between the contradictory needs for efficient energy conversion and chemically sensitive electronic components to develop a viable system of artificial photosynthesis to generate clean fuel.
Striking the right balance
In order for an artificial photosystem to be viable, we need to be able to make it once, deploy it, and have it last for 20 or more years without repairing it, said study principal investigator Ian Sharp, head of materials integration and interface science research at JCAP.
The problem is that the active chemical environments needed for artificial photosynthesis are damaging to the semiconductors used to capture solar energy and power the device.
Good protection layers are dense and chemically inactive. That is completely at odds with the characteristics of an efficient catalyst, which helps to split water to store the energy of light in chemical bonds, said Sharp, who is also a staff scientist at Berkeley Labs Chemical Sciences Division. The most efficient catalysts tend to be permeable and easily transform from one phase to another. These types of materials would usually be considered poor choices for protecting electronic components.
By engineering an atomically precise film so that it can support chemical reactions without damaging sensitive semiconductors, the researchers managed to satisfy contradictory needs for artificial photosystems.
This gets into the key aspects of our work, said study lead author Jinhui Yang, who conducted the work as a postdoctoral researcher at JCAP. We set out to turn the catalyst into a protective coating that balances these competing properties.
Doing double duty
The researchers knew they needed a catalyst that could not only support active and efficient chemical reactions, but one that could also provide a stable interface with the semiconductor, allow the charge generated by the absorption of light from the semiconductor to be efficiently transferred to the sites doing catalysis, and permit as much light as possible to pass through.
They turned to a manufacturing technique called plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition, performed at the Molecular Foundry at Berkeley Lab. This type of thin-film deposition is used in the semiconductor industry to manufacture integrated circuits.
This technique gave us the level of precision we needed to create the composite film, said Yang. We were able to engineer a very thin layer to protect the sensitive semiconductor, then atomically join another active layer to carry out the catalytic reactions, all in a single process.
The first layer of the film consisted of a nanocrystalline form of cobalt oxide that provided a stable, physically robust interface with the light-absorbing semiconductor. The other layer was a chemically reactive material made of cobalt dihydroxide.
The design of this composite coating was inspired by recent advances in the field that have revealed how water-splitting reactions occur, at the atomic scale, on materials. In this way, mechanistic insights guide how to make systems that have the functional properties we need, said Sharp.
Using this configuration, the researchers could run photosystems continuously for three dayspotentially longerwhen such systems would normally fail in mere seconds.
A major impact of this work is to demonstrate the value of designing catalysts for integration with semiconductors, said Yang. Using a combination of spectroscopic and electrochemical methods, we showed that these films can be made compact and continuous at the nanometer scale, thus minimizing parasitic light absorption when integrated on top of photoactive semiconductors.
The study authors noted that while this is an important milestone, there are many more steps needed before a commercially viable artificial photosystem is ready for deployment.
In general, we need to know more about how these systems fail so we can identify areas to target for future improvement, said Sharp. Understanding degradation is an important avenue to making something that is stable for decades.
This work was supported by DOEs Office of Science. The researchers used the Advanced Light Source at Berkeley Lab to characterize the materials they created. The Molecular Foundry and the Advanced Light Source are both DOE Office of Science User Facilities.
[center]###[/center]
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the worlds most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Labs scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energys Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOEs Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.[/font]
Updated: November 12, 2016[/font]
[font size=4]Berkeley Lab approach could lead to more stable, efficient artificial photosystems[/font]
News Release Sarah Yang (510) 486-4575 November 9, 2016
[hr]
[font size=3]Scientists have found a way to engineer the atomic-scale chemical properties of a water-splitting catalyst for integration with a solar cell, and the result is a big boost to the stability and efficiency of artificial photosynthesis.[/font]
Schematic of the multi-functional water splitting catalyst layer engineered using atomic layer deposition for integration with a high-efficiency silicon cell. (Credit: Ian Sharp/Berkeley Lab)
[font size=3]Led by researchers at the Department of Energys Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the project is described in a paper published this week in the journal Nature Materials.
The research comes out of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub established in 2010 to develop a cost-effective method of turning sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into fuel. JCAP is led by the California Institute of Technology with Berkeley Lab as a major partner.
The goal of this study was to strike a careful balance between the contradictory needs for efficient energy conversion and chemically sensitive electronic components to develop a viable system of artificial photosynthesis to generate clean fuel.
Striking the right balance
In order for an artificial photosystem to be viable, we need to be able to make it once, deploy it, and have it last for 20 or more years without repairing it, said study principal investigator Ian Sharp, head of materials integration and interface science research at JCAP.
The problem is that the active chemical environments needed for artificial photosynthesis are damaging to the semiconductors used to capture solar energy and power the device.
Good protection layers are dense and chemically inactive. That is completely at odds with the characteristics of an efficient catalyst, which helps to split water to store the energy of light in chemical bonds, said Sharp, who is also a staff scientist at Berkeley Labs Chemical Sciences Division. The most efficient catalysts tend to be permeable and easily transform from one phase to another. These types of materials would usually be considered poor choices for protecting electronic components.
By engineering an atomically precise film so that it can support chemical reactions without damaging sensitive semiconductors, the researchers managed to satisfy contradictory needs for artificial photosystems.
This gets into the key aspects of our work, said study lead author Jinhui Yang, who conducted the work as a postdoctoral researcher at JCAP. We set out to turn the catalyst into a protective coating that balances these competing properties.
Doing double duty
The researchers knew they needed a catalyst that could not only support active and efficient chemical reactions, but one that could also provide a stable interface with the semiconductor, allow the charge generated by the absorption of light from the semiconductor to be efficiently transferred to the sites doing catalysis, and permit as much light as possible to pass through.
They turned to a manufacturing technique called plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition, performed at the Molecular Foundry at Berkeley Lab. This type of thin-film deposition is used in the semiconductor industry to manufacture integrated circuits.
This technique gave us the level of precision we needed to create the composite film, said Yang. We were able to engineer a very thin layer to protect the sensitive semiconductor, then atomically join another active layer to carry out the catalytic reactions, all in a single process.
The first layer of the film consisted of a nanocrystalline form of cobalt oxide that provided a stable, physically robust interface with the light-absorbing semiconductor. The other layer was a chemically reactive material made of cobalt dihydroxide.
The design of this composite coating was inspired by recent advances in the field that have revealed how water-splitting reactions occur, at the atomic scale, on materials. In this way, mechanistic insights guide how to make systems that have the functional properties we need, said Sharp.
Using this configuration, the researchers could run photosystems continuously for three dayspotentially longerwhen such systems would normally fail in mere seconds.
A major impact of this work is to demonstrate the value of designing catalysts for integration with semiconductors, said Yang. Using a combination of spectroscopic and electrochemical methods, we showed that these films can be made compact and continuous at the nanometer scale, thus minimizing parasitic light absorption when integrated on top of photoactive semiconductors.
The study authors noted that while this is an important milestone, there are many more steps needed before a commercially viable artificial photosystem is ready for deployment.
In general, we need to know more about how these systems fail so we can identify areas to target for future improvement, said Sharp. Understanding degradation is an important avenue to making something that is stable for decades.
This work was supported by DOEs Office of Science. The researchers used the Advanced Light Source at Berkeley Lab to characterize the materials they created. The Molecular Foundry and the Advanced Light Source are both DOE Office of Science User Facilities.
[center]###[/center]
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the worlds most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Labs scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energys Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOEs Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.[/font]
Updated: November 12, 2016[/font]
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Solar Cells Get Boost with Integration of Water-Splitting Catalyst onto Semiconductor (Original Post)
OKIsItJustMe
Nov 2016
OP
We thought hard about adding solar 2 months ago we we bought a solar ready HVAC
Omaha Steve
Nov 2016
#1
I suppose that program cannot be changed, by a Republican Congress and President Trump
OKIsItJustMe
Nov 2016
#4
Omaha Steve
(99,795 posts)1. We thought hard about adding solar 2 months ago we we bought a solar ready HVAC
At $20,000 even with the US Gov tax credit for a full 30%, we turned it down for now.
The system: http://www.lennox.com/buyers-guide/tools/solar-calculator
OKIsItJustMe
(19,938 posts)2. Under Trump, the credit will likely be 0%
(Just sayin)
Omaha Steve
(99,795 posts)3. Probably
Current rates.
The Solar Investment Tax Credits (ITC) was extended by legislation signed on December 18th 2015. The bill extends the 30% Solar Investment Tax Credits for both residential and commercial projects through the end of 2019, and the drops the credit to 26% in 2020 and 22% in 2021 before dropping permanently to 10% for commercial projects and 0% for residential projects. Source: Solar Energy Industries Association.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,938 posts)4. I suppose that program cannot be changed, by a Republican Congress and President Trump
Or can it?