Computational Modeling and Screening of Semiconductor Electrodes for Solar-to-Fuel Conversion

Wednesday, 16 October 2019: 14:20
Room 216 (The Hilton Atlanta)
I. Dabo (The Pennsylvania State University)
Solar energy is the most abundant energy source available to humankind, but this energy cannot be harnessed on demand due to the variability of sunlight. Artificial photosynthesis overcomes that variability through the direct photocatalytic storage of solar power into chemical fuels. Nevertheless, most of the stable photocatalysts in use today rely on metal oxide semiconductors whose bandgap does not match the solar spectrum. This presentation will discuss the development and experimental validation of an accurate computational protocol to understand, predict, and optimize visible-light-active materials that can split water into hydrogen and oxygen with a focus on solar compatibility using electronic-structure methods beyond density-functional theory and electrochemical stability by exploiting quantum-continuum embedding methods.