Institute Solar Fuels
Lecture announcements - TU Berlin
Prof. Dr. Roel van de Krol (roel.vandekrol@helmholtz-berlin.de)
and Dr. Marco Favaro
Winter semester 2024/2025
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Start: |
17.10.24, 9.00h |
Intended audience: |
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Time: |
Thursdays from 9.00 – 13.00h |
MSc & PhD students in physics or chemistry |
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Location: |
Lecture Room TC-318, TU Berlin You can register for this course by sending an email to r.vandekrol@tu-berlin.de |
Credit points: 6 ECTS (written exam) |
Course description:
Direct conversion of abundant resources, such as water and CO2, into chemical fuels and other value-added chemicals using sunlight is an attractive solution to the problem of the intermittent nature of solar energy. Such ‘solar fuels’ have up to 100 times greater energy densities than the best batteries, and offer an attractive solution for large-scale, long-term energy storage. In this course, we will explore photo-electrochemical routes in which chemically stable semiconductors are combined with catalysts to form efficient energy conversion devices. We will discuss the underlying principles, the choice and design of new materials, the role of defects, and engineering challenges for photoelectrochemical devices and reactors.
Content:
1. Climate Change, the Hydrogen Economy and pathways to solar fuels
2. Sustainable hydrogen production and electrolysis
3. Basic semiconductors properties: energy levels, charge carriers, dopants, and junctions
4. Electronic properties and defect chemistry of metal oxides
5. The semiconductor/electrolyte interface: energetics and charge transfer processes
6. Photoelectrochemical processes: water splitting, CO2 conversion, production of high-value chemicals
7. Materials design and selection, stability, protection layers
8. Solar fuel devices, artificial leafs & reactors
The lectures will be given in English.