Solar Fuel Generation

As the search for renewable sources of energy grows more urgent, more and more attention is focusing on the blueprint offered by biological photosynthesis for translating the energy of our Sun into energy rich molecules like H2 and carbohydrates, commonly known as "solar fuels." These solar fuels have enormous potential to store high densities of energy in the form of chemical bonds as well as being transportable. This book offers a complete overview of the promising approaches to solar fuel generation, including the direct pathways of solar H2%u3000generation and CO2%u3000photocatalytic reduction.

Solar Fuel Generation is an invaluable tool for graduate students and researchers (especially chemists, physicists, and material scientists) working in this field.

• Focuses on solar fuels, one of the most promising alternative energy sources, outlining the fundamental and technological perspectives on their use and development.
• Explores the fundamental concepts crucial to the design of artificial photosynthesis devices and photocatalysts.
• Offers a comprehensive overview of both the state of the art in the field and promising new approaches in the production of solar fuels, including photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical H2 generation, PV-water electrolysis, solar assisted thermochemical H2 generation, microbial H2 generation, and photocatalytic CO2 reduction.
• Discusses in detail photocatalytic conversion of CO2 to fuels, the challenges it poses and the strategies to overcome them.

Preface

Chapter 1 : Artificial Photosynthesis : Fundamentals
Chapter 2 : Solar Fuel Generation : An Introduction
Chapter 3 : Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction to Fuels
Chapter 4 : Solar Hydrogen Generation
Chapter 5 : Microbial Solar Energy Conversion
Chapter 6 : Hetero-structured Photocatalysts for Solar Fuel Generation
Chapter 7 : Bio-mimetic Approaches for Solar Fuel Generation
Chapter 8 : Sensitized Solar Cells : Their Perspectives

Index