The University of British Columbia

Purpose

The Project will investigate the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen fuel by utilizing a tandem photoelectrochemical (PEC) system with the main goal of generating a robust, scalable, and competitive solution for solar energy technologies. The Project will focus on materials development, rigorous characterization, cell development, and prototyping. To achieve, the Project will utilize solution-based techniques to address the urgent need for efficient absorbers for PEC systems via transferable methods for large scale production. A target is to develop or identify cost-effective and abundant materials for all required components without sacrificing their performance. The system to be developed will be the first work on solar driven-overall water splitting utilizing solution processing routes with benign molecular ink for photoabsorber synthesis coupled with earth-abundant and low-cost material cocatalysts. Furthermore, rigorous in-situ characterization will provide an overview of the overall processes involved in PEC reactions which will further guide system design. Finally, a prototype of an efficient and durable PEC cell will be realized.