Beyond Photovoltaics: Semiconductor Nanoarchitectures for Liquid-Junction Solar Cells

Abstract

He earned his doctoral degree (1979) in Physical Chemistry from the Bombay University and carried out postdoctoral research at Boston University (1979University ( -1981 and University of Texas at Austin (1981Austin ( -1983. He joined Notre Dame in 1983 and initiated a successful research project on utilizing semiconductor nanostructures for light energy conversion. His major research interests are in three areas: (1) to understand interfacial processes and catalytic reactions at nanostructured semiconductor interface, (2) to develop semiconductor hybrid assemblies for solar cells and solar fuels, and (3) carbon nanostructure architectures for energy conversion and storage. He has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed journal papers, review articles, and book chapters with more than 20000 citations. He has also edited three books in the area of nanoscale materials.Kevin Tvrdy (far left) received his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the University of Nebraska in 2005, after which he worked for one year at Streck Laboratories as an R&D technician. He is currently pursuing his doctoral degree at the University of Notre Dame in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry under the direction of Prashant V. Kamat. His current research centers on the application of ultrafast spectroscopic measurements to better understand and improve upon electron transfer phenomena in photovoltaic devices. In his free time, Kevin enjoys spending time with his wife Jessica outdoors. David R. Baker (far right) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, and Radiation Laboratory. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington in 2006, where he researched interfacial water phenomena and methylotrophic bacterial populations. His current research focuses on electrode-electrolyte interactions and developing nanoarchitectures within quantum dot solar cells. He has interned with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the United States Department of State. Emmy J. Radich (not pictured) is a P h.D. student in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Notre Dame where she works under the guidance of Prashant Kamat in the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory. Her current focus is on carbon-based nanostructured composite materials for energy applications. Emmy earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering at Mississippi State University. She also spent four years working at RespirTek, Inc., a commercial bioenvironmental laboratory. Emmy's research interests are diverse, with past projects focusing on biofuels synthesis, gas hydrates, anaerobic digestion, and novel bioremediation strategies. Emmy has also worked in various government and industrial positions ranging from groundwater assessment/ remediation regulator to a refinery process engineer to laboratory director. convert light energy into electricity. 7-10 Unlike solid state photovolt...

Towards efficient photoinduced charge separation in carbon nanodots and TiO2 composites in the visible region

“…10,[16][17][18][19][20][21] However, it is still a challenge to achieve efficient electron injection from CDs to TiO 2 under sunlight, 21 which is a primary photophysical process in generating photocurrent in CD-based PVs. 22,23 To date, the power conversion efficiency of CD-based PVs has been only 0.13%, as reported by Mirtchev and co-workers. 21 The authors pointed out that the low power conversion efficiency was possibly due to inferior electron injection from CDs to TiO 2 .…”

“…24,25 The surface defects are unstable and dissipative in energy, which are unfavorable for efficient electron injection in PVs. 23,[26][27][28] In addition, the reported CDs are generally passivated with insulating long chain molecules, 10,12,29 which act as tunneling barriers and are against efficient electron injection and well performing CD-based optoelectronic devices. 22,30 To realize efficient CD-sensitized TiO 2 PVs under sunlight, the CDs should exhibit intrinsic absorption in the visible region and be integrated effectively with TiO 2 .…”

Nanoscale Effects in Water Splitting Photocatalysis

“…The third strategy is to exploit scaling laws and specific effects at the nanoscale [53][54][55][56] to overcome the limiting problems of metal oxide absorbers, such as their short electron-hole lifetimes and low mobility. This nanostructuring strategy has gained significant interest in the last 20 years [57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67] and is the focus of this chapter.…”

“…Because of the problems above, the number of known nanoscale photocatalysts for overall water splitting is limited [57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66]. Only five nanoscale photocatalysts have been reported in the literature.…”

Mg-Doped CdTeO3 Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Quantum dots-sensitized solar cells have been widely researched and show promise toward the development of next generation of energy, due to the characteristics of low cost, environmental protection and high theoretical power conversion efficiency [1][2][3]. What's more, the quantum dots (QDs) also have lots of characteristics that make QDSSCs popular, such as high absorption coefficient, tunable band gap, and multiple exciton generation (MEG) effect [4][5][6][7].…”