Photoelectrochemical energy converter

J. Manassen, D. Cahen, and G. Hodes, Electrochemical, solid state, photochemical, and technological aspects of photoelectrochemical energy converters, Nature 263 (1976) 97-100. 

The application of the selective application of interfacial films for energy band alignment in photoelectrochemical energy-converting systems is yet in its infancy, but the concept promises a very significant step toward the realization of stable and robust devices such as monolithically integrated water splitting structures. Such systems will be reviewed below. 

Photoelectrochemical semiconductor cells are used to convert photon energy into chemical substances or into electricity, the former is a photodectrolytic cell and the latter is a photovoltaic cell. A photoelectrochemical semiconductor cell consists of either a pair of metal and semiconductor electrodes or a pair of two semiconductor electrodes. 

In addition to yielding information about semiconductor charge-transfer dynamics, the fill factor parameterizes the efficiency with which the photo-electrochemical cell can be expected to convert optical energy to electricity. The practical value of a photoelectrochemical cell is usually evaluated by its maximum conversion efficiency. The energy conversion efficiency is defined as... 

---