CO2 reduction

The research

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) carbon dioxide reduction (CO2R) reactions capture solar energy and directly generate critical chemicals and fuels. A PEC-CO2R device comprises of a light-absorbing p-type semiconductor integrated with an electrocatalyst, to form a photoelectrode which is immersed in an electrolyte solution and illuminated by sunlight. The photo-absorber harvests solar photons and generate photoexcited electrons with appropriate electrochemical potential to drive the reaction.

The electrocatalyst receives charges from the absorber and facilitates the electrochemical reactions. we propose hereby a systematic investigation combining inorganic semiconductor photoelectrodes with inorganic catalysts, targeting at improving the fundamental understanding of how interfacial effects influence CO2R and to design devices for more selective and efficient solar-driven conversion of CO2 to valuable products