Solar nanotech - Summer Science 2011 | Royal Society

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Solar nanotech

Putting sunshine in the tank – using nanotechnology to make solar fuel

Luminescence from solutions of small semiconductor clusters (‘quantum dots’) of different sizes. By simply changing the size of the dots, we can change the colour of light they absorb or give out – so we can match the dots to the part of the solar spectrum we want to collect. (credit: Nanoco Technologies Ltd).
Introduction

Our Sun provides far more energy than we will ever need, but we use it very inefficiently. To do better, we must answer the question ‘what happens at night?’, when we can’t produce power from solar panels.

This exhibit shows how scientists are working to use the Sun’s energy directly; not to generate power, but make fuel – often called ‘solar fuel’. To make better use of the Sun’s resources, we need to find out how to create solar fuel that can be stored, shipped to where it is needed and used on demand. Weight-for-weight, fuel can store much more energy than batteries. Scientists are using nanotechnology to harness sunlight to drive green chemical reactions.
We use powerful lasers to mimick different sunlight colours in our lab. This is a high power laser system that creates very short light pulses in operation in the Photon Science Institute at the University of Manchester (credit: The Photon Science Institute, The University of Manchester).
How does it work?

The scientists behind this exhibit are working to build a solar ‘nanocell’ that will use the Sun’s energy directly to make important fuels or chemicals needed by industry. At the heart of the nanocell are two types of light-absorber – small semiconductor clusters called ‘quantum dots’, containing only a few hundred atoms, and porphyrin molecules (like those involved in photosynthesis).

In this fantastic quantum world, scientists can select which colour of sunlight is absorbed just by changing the size of the quantum dots. Catalyst molecules are grafted onto the surfaces of the dots, and these do the chemistry. When sunlight is absorbed, carriers of electric current are created (just as in a solar panel), but here they provide the potential to do useful chemistry with the catalyst – for example turning water into hydrogen fuel. This could be a green way of making the fuel for hydrogen-powered cars – instead of making it from fossil fuel as we do right now.
Games and videos

Try the Solar Fuel Rocket Challenge, the Solar Fuel Chemistry Challenge and the Renewable Energy Quiz!

This short video introduces some of the work to be presented by this exhibit (2 mins).

Meet the scientists

Professor Wendy Flavell works at University of Manchester.

This exhibit is presented by the University of Manchester, in collaboration with its partners in the SolarCap consortium for artificial photosynthesis, the University of East Anglia, the University of Nottingham and the University of York.
Hands-on at this exhibit

Make a solar nanocell work yourself

Take the solar rocket fuel challenge

Make quantum dots glow
Blog posts about this exhibit

Meet the Team – Solar nanotech (7 June 2011)

Solar nanotech (7 June 2011)
Photo gallery

Making solar fuel: light-driven generation of hydrogen at an electrode using a molybdenum catalyst. (credit: Energy Materials Laboratory, University of East Anglia).
Semiconductor ‘quantum dots’, imaged using a powerful electron microscope. Here the dots are made of lead, sulphur and selenium. The bright colours show regions with lots of selenium. Each quantum dot is around 5 nanometres across – about 1/100,000th of a human hair. (credit: Manchester Materials Science Centre, School of Materials, The University of Manchester).
A huge amount of energy reaches us from the Sun. The amount of energy reaching the Earth per hour is more than the whole world uses in a year! (credit: Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).)
A powerful spectrometer allows us to study just the surface atoms of our semiconductor ‘quantum dots’. We need to make sure the quantum dots are stable enough to have a long lifetime in a solar fuel cell. Here we are shining X-rays on the quantum dots and collecting the electrons knocked out. The whole of the inside of the machine is under a vacuum as good as outer space! (credit: Patrick Lunt, The University of Manchester)
Solar cells like these can generate electricity from the energy of the Sun, but only during daylight hours. Our exhibit shows how we can also use the Sun’s energy to make fuel – often called ‘solar fuel’- which can be stored, shipped to where it is needed and used on demand. (credit: Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).)
Some of the scientists working on this exhibit. From left to right: Chris Windle (University of York), Marius Campian (University of York), Micheline Pickett (UEA), Darren Graham (University of Manchester), Chris Pickett (UEA), Peiyi Li (UEA), Joseph Wright (UEA), Robin Perutz (University of York, kneeling), Wendy Flavell (University of Manchester), James Calladine (University of Nottingham), Yimin Chao (UEA). (credit: Robin Perutz, University of York)

Click an image to open a larger version.
Journal papers relating to this exhibit

Nann T. et al. (2010) Water splitting by visible light: A nanophotocathode for hydrogen production Angewandte Chemie – Int. Ed., 49, 1574-1577.

Stubbs S.K. et al. (2010) Efficient carrier multiplication in InP nanoparticles Phys. Rev. B, 81, 081303(R).

Gabrielsson A. et al. (2008) Remote site photosubstitution in metalloporphyrin-rhenium bipyridine tricarbonyl assemblies: photo-reactions of molecules with very short-lived states. Dalton Transactions, 4259-4269.
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