Global solar electricity (photovoltaic (PV) technology) currently accounts for more than US$10 billion/year, and the industry is growing at more than 30% annually. Yet solar hydrogen - the direct generation of hydrogen by solar irradiation - is in its infancy. This book offers state-of-the-art knowledge to scientists, and engineers involved in photoelectrochemical systems and nanotechnology for solar generation of hydrogen. The technical content addresses the current status and prospects of solar hydrogen R&D activities, major achievements and latest performances, technological limitations and crucial remaining challenges, latest advances in fundamental understanding and development in semiconductor nanostructures, device fabrication, modeling, simulation and characterization techniques as well as assessing and establishing the present and future role and contribution of solar hydrogen in the hydrogen economy. Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology: * Stateoftheart, comprehensive reference book, encompassing all recent developments * Addresses both fundamentals and applications in a didactic manner * Emphasizes materials and the impact of nanotechnology * Highlights societal, educational, environmental and economic aspects (to be confirmed) * Written by THE experts in the field A highly valuable resource for Materials scientists, physical and inorganic chemists, electrochemists, physicists, and engineers carrying out research on solar energy, photocatalysis, and/or semiconducting nanomaterials, both in academia and industry.

Leseprobe

List of Contributors. Preface. Editor Biography. PART ONE-FUNDAMENTALS, MODELING, AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PHOTOCATALYTIC REACTIONS FOR DIRECT SOLAR HYDROGEN GENERATION. 1 Solar Hydrogen Production by Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting: The Promise and Challenge (Eric L. Miller). 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 Hydrogen or Hype? 1.3 Solar Pathways to Hydrogen. 1.4 Photoelectrochemical Water-Splitting. 1.5 The Semiconductor/Electrolyte Interface. 1.6 Photoelectrode Implementations. 1.7 The PEC Challenge. 1.8 Facing the Challenge: Current PEC Materials Research. Acknowledgments. References. 2 Modeling and Simulation of Photocatalytic Reactions at TiO2 Surfaces (Hideyuki Kamisaka and Koichi Yamashita). 2.1 Importance of Theoretical Studies on TiO2 Systems. 2.2 Doped TiO2 Systems: Carbon and Niobium Doping. 2.3 Surface Hydroxyl Groups and the Photoinduced Hydrophilicity of TiO2. Conversion. 2.4 Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. 2.5 Future Directions: Ab Initio Simulations and the Local Excited States on TiO2. Acknowledgments. References. 3 Photocatalytic Reactions on Model Single Crystal TiO2 Surfaces (G.I.N. Waterhouse and H. Idriss). 3.1 TiO2 Single-Crystal Surfaces. 3.2 Photoreactions Over Semiconductor Surfaces. 3.3 Ethanol Reactions Over TiO2(110) Surface. 3.4 Photocatalysis and Structure Sensitivity. 3.5 Hydrogen Production from Ethanol Over Au/TiO2 Catalysts. 3.6 Conclusions. References. 4 Fundamental Reactions on Rutile TiO2(110) Model Photocatalysts Studied by High-Resolution Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (Stefan Wendt, Ronnie T. Vang, and Flemming Besenbacher). 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Geometric Structure and Defects of the Rutile TiO2 (110) Surface. 4.3 Reactions of Water with Oxygen Vacancies. 4.4 Splitting of Paired H Adatoms and Other Reactions Observed on Partly Water Covered TiO2(110). 4.5 O2 Dissociation and the Role of Ti Interstitials. 4.6 Intermediate Steps of the Reaction Between O2 and H Adatoms and the Role of Coadsorbed Water. 4.7 Bonding of Gold Nanoparticles on TiO2(110) in Different Oxidation States. 4.8 Summary and Outlook. References. PART TWO-ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE, ENERGETICS, AND TRANSPORT DYNAMICS OF PHOTOCATALYST NANOSTRUCTURES. 5 Electronic Structure Study of Nanostructured Transition Metal Oxides Using Soft X-Ray Spectroscopy (Jinghua Guo, Per-Anders Glans, Yi-Sheng Liu, and Chinglin Chang). 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Soft X-Ray Spectroscopy. 5.3 Experiment Set-Up. 5.4 Results and Discussion. Acknowledgments. References. 6 X-ray and Electron Spectroscopy Studies of Oxide Semiconductors for Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Production (Clemens Heske, Lothar Weinhardt, and Marcus BEURar). 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Soft X-Ray and Electron Spectroscopies. 6.3 Electronic Surface-Level Positions of WO3 Thin Films. 6.4 Soft X-Ray Spectroscopy of ZnO:Zn3N2 Thin Films. 6.5 In Situ Soft X-Ray Spectroscopy: A Brief Outlook. 6.6 Summary. Acknowledgments. References. 7 Applications of X-Ray Transient Absorption Spectroscopy in Photocatalysis for Hydrogen Generation (Lin X. Chen). 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 X-Ray Transient Absorption Spectroscopy (XTA). 7.3 Tracking Electronic and Nuclear Configurations in Photoexcited Metalloporphyrins. 7.4 Tracking Metal-Center Oxidation States in the MLCT State of Metal Complexes. 7.5 Tracking Transient Metal Oxidation States During Hydrogen Generation. 7.6 Prospects and Challenges in Future Studies. Acknowledgments. References. 8 Fourier-Transform Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy of Pure and Doped TiO2 Photocatalysts (L ...