Photoelectrochemistry Solar Energy Conversion

There are difficulties in making such cells practical. High-band-gap semiconductors do not respond to visible light, while low-band-gap ones are prone to photocorrosion [182, 185]. In addition, both photochemical and entropy or thermodynamic factors limit the ideal efficiency with which sunlight can be converted to electrical energy [186]. 

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Trigonal, metallic selenium has been investigated as photoelectrode for solar energy conversion, due to its semiconducting properties. The photoelectrochemistry of the element has been studied in some detail by Gissler [35], A photodecomposition reaction of Se into hydrogen selenide was observed in acidic solutions. Only redox couples with a relatively anodic standard potential could prevent dissolution of Se crystal. 

Licht S, Khaselev O, Soga T, Umeno M (1998) Multiple bandgap photoelectrochemistry Energetic configurations for solar energy conversion. Electrochem Solid State Lett 1 20-23... 

Nozik, H. J., Photoelectrochemistry applications to solar energy conversion, Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem., 29, 184 (1978). 

Nozik AJ (1978) Photoelectrochemistry Applications to solar energy conversion. Annu Rev Phys Chem 29 189-122... 

Solar energy conversion in photoelectrochemical cells with semiconductor electrodes is considered in detail in the reviews by Gerischer (1975, 1979), Nozik (1978), Heller and Miller (1980), Wrighton (1979), Bard (1980), and Pleskov (1981) and will not be discussed. The present chapter deals with the main principles of the theory of photoelectrochemical processes at semiconductor electrodes and discusses the most important experimental results concerning various aspects of photoelectrochemistry of a semiconductor-electrolyte interface a more comprehensive consideration of these problems can be found in the book by the authors (Pleskov and Gurevich,... 

This volume, based on the symposium Photoeffects at Semiconductor-Electrolyte Interfaces, consists of 25 invited and contributed papers. Although the emphasis of the symposium was on the more basic aspects of research in photoelectrochemistry, the covered topics included applied research on photoelectrochemical cells. This is natural since it is clear that the driving force for the intense current interest and activity in photoelectrochemistry is the potential development of photoelectrochemical cells for solar energy conversion. These versatile cells can be designed either to produce electricity (electrochemical photovoltaic cells) or to produce fuels and chemicals (photoelectrosynthetic cells). 

LichtS. (1998), Multiple bandgap photoelectrochemistry energetic configurations for solar energy conversion , Electrochem. Solid-State Lett. 1, 20-23. 

The authors submitted the final version of this manuscript in 2001. Owing to subsequent delays in the preparation of this book series, most of the references in this chapter date from then. This chapter provides the fundamental basis of photoelectrochemistry in terms of the underlying photophysics and photochemistry and as such it forms an important starting point in the treatment of solar energy conversion. The editors have updated references where appropriate. 

A wide range of successful applications of polymer-modified electrodes [7,8] to electroanalysis [8], electrocatalysis [5,9-11], photoelectrochemistry [12], and solar energy conversion [13,14] have given impetus to develop these kinds of modified electrodes. A polymer film confining functional molecules is one of the most attractive new nanodevice design materials. The under-... 

Photoelectrochemistry, Fundamentals and Applications, Fig. 1 Types of photoelectochemical devices for solar energy conversion (a), (b) and (c) depict regenerative, photoelectrolytic and dye-sentisitized configurations,... 

Bang, J. H. Kamat, P. V., CdSe quantum dot-fullerene hybrid nanocomposite for solar energy conversion Electron transfer and photoelectrochemistry. ACS Nano 2011, 5, 9421-9427. 

Substantial work has been done to study the properties of the doped semiconductors employed, as there was general consensus for several decades that such cells might be important for solar energy conversion and storage. Much of our work in photoelectrochemistry was done with my colleague Allen Bard. Together we wrote an article arguing that photoelectrochemical cells could be viewed as the Holy... 

Photoelectrochemistry (PEC) is emerging from the research laboratories with the promise of significant practical applications. One application of PEC systems is the conversion and storage of solar energy. Chapter 4 reviews the main principles of the theory of PEC processes at semiconductor electrodes and discusses the most important experimental results of interactions at an illuminated semiconductor-electrolyte interface. In addition to the fundamentals of electrochemistry and photoexcitation of semiconductors, the phenomena of photocorrosion and photoetching are discussed. Other PEC phenomena treated are photoelectron emission, electrogenerated luminescence, and electroreflection. Relationships among the various PEC effects are established. 

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