Artificial Photosynthesis: Where are we now? Where can we go?

Publication date: Available online 24 August 2015 Source:Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews Author(s): Ralph L. House, Neyde Yukie Murakami Iha, Rodolfo L. Coppo, Leila Alibabaei, Benjamin D. Sherman, Peng Kang, M. Kyle Brennaman, Paul G. Hoertz, Thomas J. Meyer Widespread implementation of renewable energy technologies, while preventing significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions, appears to be the only viable solution to meeting the world's energy demands for a sustainable energy future. The final energy mix will include conservation and energy efficiency, wind, geothermal, biomass, and others, but none more ubiquitous or abundant than the sun. Over several decades of development, the cost of photovoltaic cells has decreased significantly with lifetimes that exceed 25 years and there is promise for widespread implementation in the future. However, the solar input is intermittent and, to be practical at a truly large scale, will require an equally large capability for energy storage. One approach involves artificial photosynthesis and the use of the sun to drive solar fuel reactions for water splitting into hydrogen and oxygen or to reduce CO2 to reduced carbon fuels. An early breakthrough in this area came from an initial report by Honda and Fujishima on photoelectrochemical water splitting at TiO2 with UV excitation. Significant progress has been made since in exploiting semiconductor devices in water splitting ...

Source: Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews - August 24, 2015 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research