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SUMMARY:MechE Colloquium: Photo-electrochemical Synthesis of Fuels
DTSTART:20171114T121500
DTEND:20171114T131500
DTSTAMP:20260504T090617Z
UID:a253864333ac3681fcfa65a45bbe96722f4bbaad2e7ebed179ab3194
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Geoff Kelsall\, Department of Chemical Engineering\, Imp
 erial College London\nAbstract:\nGlobal (mean) power demands of ca. 2×101
 3 W could be provided from the earth’s ultimate power source\, ca. 1.2×
 1017 W of incident solar radiation\, if adequately efficient\, durable\, a
 nd economic transducers are developed. However\, the diurnality of solar p
 ower requires such transducers to be coupled to energy storage\, potential
 ly enabling decarbonising power sources\, managing intermittency of renewa
 ble power sources and smoothing the dynamics of electrical power demands. 
 This can be achieved if electrons from photovoltaics are used to electroly
 se water to form (oxygen and) hydrogen\, which can be oxidised subsequentl
 y in fuel cells. Alternatively\, solar power (ca. 100 - 300 W m-2) can be 
 used directly\, and potentially more cheaply\, for photo-electrochemical r
 eduction (and oxidation) of water in an environmentally benign route to hy
 drogen (and oxygen). Hence\, extremely large areas of efficient\, cheap\, 
 environmentally-benign\, easily fabricated absorbing materials and devices
  would need to be deployed to harvest solar power\, to displace CO2-emitti
 ng fossil fuels and to contribute significantly to meeting global power de
 mands. Photo-electrochemical reactors incorporating semiconducting photo-e
 lectrodes will be described\, as such systems offer one possible solution.
 \n\nBio:\nGeoff Kelsall has been Professor of Electrochemical Engineering 
 at Imperial College London since 1994\, except during 1998-2000\, when he 
 held the Chair in Electrometallurgy\, University of British Columbia\, Can
 ada. His research projects involve the conception\, modelling\, design\, p
 erformance characterisation and optimisation of novel reactors for electro
 lytic processes\, high temperature fuel cells / electrolysers and prospect
 ive photo-electrochemical processes for harvesting and storing solar energ
 y as hydrogen and other fuels.
LOCATION:MED 0 1418 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MED%200%201418
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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