Solar Fuels

Ampelli C., Centi, G., Passalacqua, R., and Perathoner, S. (2010) Synthesis of solar fuels by a novel photoelectrocatalytic approach. Energy t. Environmental Science, 3 (3), 292-301. 

The are two possibilities, the direct solar into electricity conversion (photovoltaic) and the solar into chemical energy conversion (solar fuels), e.g., the production of H2 by water splitting or the photocatalytic conversion of C02 into chemi-... 

Scientific interest in nanocarbon hybrid materials to enhance the properties of photocatalysts and photoactive electrodes has been growing rapidly [1-8]. The worldwide effort to find new efficient and sustainable solutions to use renewable energy sources has pushed the need to develop new and/or improved materials able to capture and convert solar energy, for example in advanced dye-sensitized solar cells - DSSC (where the need to improve the photovoltaic performance has caused interest in using nanocarbons for a better cell design [9,10]) or in advanced cells for producing solar fuels [11-13]. 

Previous sections have demonstrated how nanocarbon-semiconductor hybrid materials provide a number of potential advantages for the development of advanced devices for a sustainable use of renewable energy. Two of the more relevant areas are (i) to improve the performances of DSSCs and (ii) to develop novel cells for producing solar fuels. 

Centi, G. Perathoner, S., Towards Solar Fuels from Water and C02. ChemSusChem 2010,3 195-208. 

Liang, Y. T. Vijayan, B. K. Gray, K. A. Hersam, M. C., Minimizing Graphene Defects Enhances Titania Nanocomposite-Based Photocatalytic Reduction of C02 for Improved Solar Fuel Production. Nano Lett. 2011,11 2865-2870. 

Applied Biological Sciences Section, Biotechnology Research Branch, Solar Fuels Research Division, Solar Energy Research Institute, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, CO 80401... 

Gray HB (2009) Powering the planet with solar fuel. Nat Chem 1 7... 

Hydrogen is the solar fuel, and the sun burns it, not by combining it chemically with oxygen, as Cavendish and Lavoisier had done in the 1770s, but by fusing its nuclei to make helium. But hydrogen nuclei are just protons, whereas helium nuclei contain neutrons too. Where do the neutral particles come from ... 

Toward a Solar-Fueled Society A Thermodynamic Perspective... 

Our ultimate energy source must be solar if we are to avoid the world temperature increase problem. It is clear that we will have enough solar fuel [3], and society has been struggling for centuries with devices to capture it effectively. 

Figure 1.1.17 The solar refinery as the conceptual contribution of chemistry by chemical energy conversion to the sustainable use of renewable energy. The upstream part (hydrogen generation) and the downstream parts need not to be colocalized in a practical realization. CSP stands for concentrated solar power. Green boxes indicate solar fuel products blue boxes stand for intermediate platform chemicals. The red arrows indicate flows of solar hydrogen to a storage and transport system for large-scale applications. The blue arrows show the major application lines for chemical production of solar fuels. The scheme also indicates the role of fertilizers from ammonia required in sustained use of biomass for energetic applications.

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