(503a) Study of Bio-Inspired Nanostructured Materials for Solar Energy Conversion
AIChE Annual Meeting
2016
2016 AIChE Annual Meeting
Fuels and Petrochemicals Division
Unconventionals: Hydrogen and Fuel Cells II
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - 8:30am to 8:50am
This study focuses on developing artificial photosynthetic systems for understanding the fundamentals of energy transfer, and electron transport in both water splitting, and photovoltaic devices with uniquely designed nanostructures. In the artificial design systems, dye-sensitized solar cell systems were a base for investigating the above fundamental problems. For the efficiency of solar energy harnessing and better electron transport systems, uniquely assembled nanostructures of ZnO , TiO2 , and an acceptor/donor energy system were fabricated using electrochemical approaches. The ZnO nanostructures including nanorods, nanosheets and nanowries were then decorated with small band gap semiconductors including, Fe2O3, CuO and Cu2O by spin coating techniques. These structures were then investigated for electron transfer using characterization methods such as: SEM, TEM, XRD, and electrochemical potentiostat methods. Spectroscopic methods such as: UV-vis spectrometer, and time-resolved photoluminscence spectroscopy are being investigated now. This fundamental study will lead us to a better design for artificial photosystems.