Researchers at the University of Buffalo have announced a
breakthrough that promises to improve both solar energy and
hydrogen fuel production
Researchers have made a two-fold breakthrough in advancing
renewable energies with the development of a light sensitive dye
which transfers electrons more efficiently than conventional
technologies. The new dyes stand to be used in solar electricity
generation and in creating hydrogen fuel, which in the past has
proven expensive and energy hungry.
The chalcogenorhodamine dyes have been pioneered by chemists
at the
University of Buffalo (UB) along with their partners at the
University
of Rochester (UR). As sunlight strikes the dyes electrons
are released allowing these available electrons to be used in
one of two ways. In the solar cell application, where the dye
can be used as part of a conventional dye-sensitive solar cells
(DSSC),
the newly freed electrons are able to travel through the
solar
cell, forming an electrical current. This is much like
existing technology but offers greater efficiency.
In their application for producing
hydrogen the process begins the same way, with sunlight
knocking electrons from their atomic orbit. Freed electrons are
then directed into a catalyst, where they drive a chemical
reaction that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. In
laboratory tests it has been shown that these
chalcogenorhodamine systems produce hydrogen at unprecedented
rates. This is because the dyes absorb light more intensely than
conventional dyes, and because they are able to transfer
electrons more efficiently. The researchers found that
chalcogenorhodamines work in both homogenous hydrogen production
systems that employ cobalt as the catalyst, as well as in
heterogeneous systems that employ platinum deposited on titanium
dioxide as the catalyst.
The research team, led by UB Professor Michael Detty and UR
Professor Richard Eisenberg, reported some of their findings in
the
Journal of the American Chemical Society in October
2010. A patent has been taken out covering the composition of
the dyes. A separate patent application seeks to protect the
dyes' use in hydrogen evolution and lists Detty and Eisenberg,
along with Brandon Calitree, Alexandra Orchard and Theresa
McCormick, as co-inventors of the process.
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