Solar Fuels

As non-renewable resources become depleted, the need for a sustainable and renewable energy source grows. Solar energy is an attractive option because the sun is a renewable and abundant source of energy, producing energy exceeding the current demands for energy.  Our objective is to use sunlight to store energy in hydrogen fuel via the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).

Our method for HER generates hydrogen fuel from water using photosensitizers derived from earth-abundant metals. During this process, the photosensitizer absorbs sunlight and undergoes charge separation in the excited state. The excited photosensitizer transfers an electron to the catalyst, which converts water to hydrogen fuel. The cycle is completed by regeneration of the photosensitizer using a sacrificial agent.