On January 18th, 2023 from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, SUNERGY will host an online webinar titled: Recent advances on photoelectrochemical water splitting. Coordinator Dr Pau Farràs, University of Galway, will present the FlowPhotoChem project alongside FPC partners Nuría López from ICIQ, Sophia Haussener at EPFL, and others.
Overview: The combustion of fossil fuels has significantly contributed to environmental pollution and a substantial increase in atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases. This phenomenon has played a major role in escalating global warming and climate change, adversely impacting ecosystems worldwide. In this sense, one of the primary objectives of the European Union is to convert solar energy into added-value chemicals and fuels, aiming at reducing imported fossil fuels and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. Artificial photosynthesis by photoelectrochemical water splitting stands out as one of the most promising approaches. Oxygen evolution takes place at the anode, to provide the protons and electrons for the complementary cathodic reaction (e.g. hydrogen evolution, CO2 reduction, or nitrogen reduction). However, there are several issues, related to conversion efficiency, stability and scalability, that limit large-scale technological deployment of this technology.
Efforts to overcome such limitations include the design of novel materials and devices, as well as understanding carrier dynamics in the system. In this webinar, researchers discuss the recent advances in photoelectrochemical water splitting from three perspectives: novel materials, mechanistic analysis, and device design and scalability.