FreeHydroCells

Project Info

The EU-funded FreeHydroCells project aims to develop a new photoelectrochemical system that can efficiently convert solar energy to chemical energy. The planned system will mimic the solar-energy absorption potential of a leaf by arraying cascades of nanometre-thick semiconducting materials as buried interfaces known as p-n junctions. When submerged in water and exposed to sunlight, the junctions will split water photoelectrochemically. The produced hydrogen will store the solar energy in a chemical form. FreeHydroCells will leverage advances in areas like thin-film engineering to increase the solar-to-chemical energy conversion. New materials will be cost-effectively synthesised using atomic layer deposition and chemical vapour deposition.