Sustainable Fuels
Given the scale of projected energy needs as well as the rapid climate change associated with growing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, there is a major push by governments to increase the rate of innovation and discovery in the area of carbon-neutral fuel production from sustainable energy sources and feedstocks. For example, the US National Science Foundation has established a Solar Energy Initiative and the European Science Foundation has established the EuroSolarFuels program to support interdisciplinary efforts to address solar energy and solar fuels. The US Department of Energy has made major investments to establish facilities for testing and translating innovations in the field with a focus on scaling up and enabling. Our group, which includes collaborators in Electrical & Computer Engineering, is focusing on the development of membranes that will likely play a key role in artificial photosynthetic systems. This effort includes the design and synthesis of new materials as well as the study of their electronic properties and their integration with light absorbers and catalysts required for functional devices.
Membrane Design and Electrolyzers
“Investigation of water oxidation at IrO2 electrodes in Nafion-based membrane electrode assemblies using impedance spectroscopy and distribution of relaxation times analysis” J. Phys. Chem. C, (2022) DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c05104
“Investigation of hydrogen oxidation and evolution reactions at porous Pt/C electrodes in Nafion-based membrane electrode assemblies using impedance spectroscopy and distribution of relaxation times analysis” J. Phys. Chem. C, (2021) DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c09531
“Recent Advances in Bipolar Membrane Design and Applications” Chem. Mat. (review), (2020) DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.0c02829
“Vapor-fed electrolysis of water using earth-abundant catalysts in Nafion or in bipolar Nafion/ poly(benzimidazolium) membranes” Sustainable Energy Fuels, (2019) DOI: 10.1039/c9se00672a
"Catalytic, Conductive Bipolar Membrane Interfaces via Layer-by-Layer Deposition for the Design of Membrane-Integrated Artificial Photosynthesis Systems” ChemSusChem, (2017) DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201701397
“Membranes for Artificial Photosynthesis” Energy Environ. Sci. (review) (2017) DOI: 10.1039/C7EE00294G
“Transparent Bipolar Membranes for Solar Fuel Generation” ACS Appl. Mat. & Interfaces, (2017) DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b04402
“Reduced Graphene Oxide Bipolar Membranes for Integrated Solar Water Splitting in Optimal pH” ChemSusChem, (2015) DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201500538
“Use of Bipolar Membranes for Maintaining Steady-state pH Gradients in Membrane-supported Solar-driven Water-splitting” ChemSusChem, (2014) DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201402288
“A Novel Conducting Polymer-Heteropoly Acid Hybrid Material for Artificial Photosynthetic Membranes” ACS Appl. Mat. & Interfaces, (2011) DOI: 10.1021/am1010223
“Designing Electronic/Ionic Conducting Membranes for Artificial Photosynthesis” Energy Environ. Sci. (2011) DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00384K
Silicon Microrod - Membrane Junctions
“Measurement of the Electrical Resistance of n-type Si Microwire/p-type Conducting Polymer Junctions for Use in Artificial Photosynthesis” J. Phys. Chem. C. (2014) DOI: 10.1021/jp509211k
“Comparison Between the Electrical Junction Properties of H-terminated and Methyl-terminated Individual Si Microwire/Polymer Assemblies for Photoelectrochemical Fuel Production” Energy Environ. Sci. (2012) DOI: 10.1039/c2ee23115h
“Characterization of the Electrical Properties of Individual p-Si Microwire/Polymer/n-Si Microwire Assemblies” J. Phys. Chem. C. (2012) DOI: 10.1021/jp2088719
“Electrical Characterization of Si-Microwires and their Junction with Conducting Polymer Composites” J. Phys. Chem. Lett. (2011) DOI: 10.1021/jz2001375
Silicon Microrod Growth, Functionalization, and Characterization
“Monohydride signature as a key predictor of successful Si(110) surface functionalization” RSC Advances, (2016) DOI: 10.1039/C6RA18009D
“Characterization of High-Aspect Ratio Periodic Structures by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy” Surf. Interface Anal. (2016) DOI: 10.1002/sia.6186
“Covalent Attachment of Ferrocene to Silicon Microwire Arrays: A Model System for Integration and Characterization of Surface-Bound Molecular Catalysts in Artificial Photosynthetic Devices” ACS Appl. Mat. & Interfaces, (2015) DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b07814
“Electrical Behavior of Thiophene and 3,4 - Ethylenedioxythiophene Functionalized Planar n - Si/PEDOT:PSS Junctions for Artificial Photosynthetic Applications” ChemSusChem, (2015) DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201501231
“Surface Functionalization of Silicon Microwire Arrays for Improved Junction Behavior in Artificial Photosynthetic Devices” ACS Appl. Mat. & Interfaces, (2015) DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b07725