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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

Start:

17.10.23, 9.00h

Intended audience:

Time:

Thursdays from 9.00 – 13.00h

MSc & PhD students in physics or chemistry

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.