POB Seminar - Solar fuel production via photoelectrochemical water splitting under high irradiances (> 100 suns)

The EPFL Photonics Chapter (EPC) is very pleased to announce and cordially invite you to our monthly ‘Pizza-Optics-Beer’ (POB) seminar on April 23rd, at 18:15 in room CO 122.



This month we will have the pleasure to host Franky Esteban Bedoya Lora from the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering with the presentation entitled:

"Solar fuel production via photoelectrochemical water splitting under high irradiances (> 100 suns)"

For organizational purposes (if you want to eat pizza!), please confirm your participation using this Doodle.
Don’t hesitate to extend the invitation to any postdoc and colleague!

Hope to see you there,
The team of the EPFL Photonics Chapter



Abstract:
The production of solar fuels by using concentrated irradiation allows for smaller and cheaper devices, and ultimately lower fuel production costs, with the added benefit of increased performances if operating conditions are carefully chosen [1]. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for hydrogen production has been studied mostly at room temperature and under 1 sun illumination; hence, there are still unrealized possibilities by using concentrated solar irradiation. However, the potentially advantageous synergy between higher temperatures and irradiation, also renders the system complex and difficult to study. The effect of temperature alone on photoelectrode performances has been reported for several semiconducting materials, e.g. Fe₂O₃ and BiVO₄; while the effect of high photon fluxes has been investigated separately up to 30 suns [2]. The combined effects of temperature and high irradiations on the performance of PEC devices has been rarely investigated experimentally, this is mostly due to the complexity of decoupling the effects due to increased surface temperature, photon fluxes and degradation rates.
With the aim to address this challenge, we developed a new PEC cell for operation at high irradiations, 30 – 360 suns [3], along with a multiphysics model [4] to predict the increased surface temperature and the inevitable effects related to ohmic drop, bubble evolution and current density distribution. In this talk, the effect of high irradiances on the performances of two semiconductors (BiVO₄ and Fe₂O₃) will be presented and how their performance affects the engineering and design of photoelectrochemical cells to be used under high irradiances.
[1] Tembhurne, S. et al. J. Electrochem. Soc. 163, H999 (2016)
[2] Segev, G. et al. Adv. Energy Mater. 6, 1500817, (2016)
[3] Bedoya-Lora, F. E. et al.  J. Mater. Chem. A 11, 23895 (2023)
[4] Bedoya-Lora, F. E. et al. Electrochem. Acta. 462, 142703 (2023)





You don't know POBs?
POBs (Pizza-Optics-Beer) are monthly seminars organized by the student association EPFL Photonics Chapter.
A PhD or a postdoc gives a 20-minutes presentation about his/her research in photonics. Discussions continue informally around pizza and beers!
The event is free and open to anyone.

We thank the Doctoral Program in Photonics (EPDO), the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE.), Optica and SwissPhotonics for their support.