Tag Archives: Heon Lee

Turning sunlight into hydrogen (a Korean project)

A Feb. 17, 2016 news item on Nanowerk describes a new technique for solar water-splitting (turning sunlight into hydrogen),

A team of Korean researchers, affiliated with UNIST [Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology] has recently pioneered in developing a new type of multilayered (Au NPs/TiO2/Au) photoelectrode that boosts the ability of solar water-splitting to produce hydrogen. According to the research team, this special photoelectrode, inspired by the way plants convert sunlight into energy is capable of absorbing visible light from the sun, and then using it to split water molecules (H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen.

A Feb. 1, 2016 UNIST news release, which originated the news item, expands on the theme,

This multilayered photoelectrode takes the form of two-dimensional hybrid metal-dielectric structure, which mainly consists of three layers of gold (Au) film, ultrathin TiO2 layer (20 nm), and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs). In a study, reported in the January 21, 2016 issue of Nano Energy, the team reported that this promising photoelectrode shows high light absorption of about 90% in the visible range 380–700 nm, as well as significant enhancement in photo-catalytic applications.

The researchers have made an image illustrating their work available,

Two-dimensional metastructured film with Titanium Oxide is fabricated as a photo-catalytic photoanode with exceptional visible light absorption. Courtesy: UNIST

Two-dimensional metastructured film with Titanium Oxide is fabricated as a photo-catalytic photoanode with exceptional visible light absorption. Courtesy: UNIST

Back to the news release,

Many structural designs, such as hierarchical and branched assemblies of nanoscale materials have been suggested to increase the UV-visible absorption and to enhance water-splitting efficiency. However, through incorporation of plasmonic metal nanoparticles (i.e. Au) to TiO2 structures, their photoelectrodes have shown to enhance the photoactivity in the entire UV-visible region of solar spectrum when compared with the existing ones, the team reports.

Prof. Jeong Min Baik of UNIST (School of Materials Science and Engineering) states, “Several attemps have been made to use UV-based photoelectrodes for hydrogen production, but this is the first time to use the metal-dielectric hybrid-structured film with TiO2 for oxygen production.” Moreover, according to Prof. Baik, this special type of photoelectrode uses approximately 95% of the visible spectrum of sunlight, which makes up a substantial portion (40%) of full sunlight. He adds, “The developed technology is expected to improve hydrogen production efficiency.”

Prof. Heon Lee (Korean University) states, “This metal-dielectric hybrid-structured film is expected to further reduce the overall cost of producing hydrogen, as it doesn’t require complex operation processes.” He continues by saying, “Using nanoimprint lithography, mass production of hydrogen will be soon possible.”

Prof. Baik adds, “This simple system may serve as an efficient platform for solar energy conversion, utilizing the whole UV-visible range of solar spectrum based on two-dimensional plasmonic photoelectrodes.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Two-dimensional metal-dielectric hybrid-structured film with titanium oxide for enhanced visible light absorption and photo-catalytic application by Joonmo Park, Hee Jun Kim, SangHyeon Nam, Hyowook Kim, Hak-Jong Choi, Youn Jeong Jang, Jae Sung Lee, Jonghwa Shin, Heon Lee, Jeong Min Baik. Nano Energy Volume 21, March 2016, Pages 115–122 doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.01.004

This paper is behind a paywall.