Discovery, benchmarking, characterization and integration of new materials for solar-fuels generators

The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) was established in 2010 as a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Innovation Hub. The JCAP mission is to demonstrate a scalable, integrated solar-fuels generator, which uses Earth-abundant elements and (with no wires) robustly produces fuel from the sun 10 times more efficiently than (current) crops. This presentation will describe how JCAP researchers use both directed and high-throughput approaches to discover light absorbers and catalysts for artificial photosynthesis, and how the performance of new materials is compared to known materials using rigorous benchmarking protocols. By using advanced characterization and computational techniques to understand and improve performance, promising materials are assembled into integrated structures that can be reliably produced and incorporated into scalable prototypes.