Review article on a energy conversion topic (ready reference with 350+ citations)
Meeting the Clean Energy Demand: Nanostructure Architectures for Solar Energy Conversion
J. Phys. Chem. C, 111 (7), 2834 -2860, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp066952u
During the last decade the nanomaterials have emerged as the new building blocks to construct light energy harvesting assemblies. Organic and inorganic hybrid structures that exhibit improved selectivity and efficiency towards catalytic processes have been designed. Size dependent properties such as size quantization effects in semiconductor nanoparticles and quantized charging effects in metal nanoparticles provides the basis for developing new and effective systems. These nanostructures provide innovative strategies for designing next generation energy conversion devices. Recent efforts to synthesize nanostructures with well defined geometrical shapes (e.g., solid and hollow spheres, prisms, rods, wires) and their assembly as 2- and 3- dimensional assemblies has further expanded the possibility of developing new strategies for light energy conversion.
There are three major ways that one can utilize nanostructures for the design of solar energy conversion devices. The first one is to mimic the photosynthesis with donor-acceptor molecular assemblies and clusters. The second one is the semiconductor assisted photocatalysis to produce fuels such as hydrogen. The third and most promising category is the nanostructure semiconductor based solar cells. Strategies to employ ordered assemblies of semiconductor and metal nanoparticles, inorganic-organic hybrid assemblies and carbon nanostructures in the energy conversion schemes are currently being explored in our laboratory.
See Popular Presentations on Meeting the Clean Energy Challenge with Nanotechnology or Solar Energy - Beyond the Hype (11 MB)Read Fast breaking paper on Quantum Dot Solar Cells ( October 2007-ISI Web of Knowledge)
Robel, I., Subramanian, V., Kuno, M. and Kamat, P. V., Quantum Dot Solar Cells. Harvesting Light Energy with CdSe Nanocrystals Molecularly Linked to Mesoscopic TiO2 Films. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005, 2385-2393
Read one of 5 most cited papers on solar cells during last 2 years (ISI Web of Knowledge)
Hasobe, T., Imahori, H., Kamat, P. V. and Fukuzumi, S., Photovoltaic Cells using composite nanoclusters of porphyrins and fullerenes with gold nanoparticles. J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2005, 127, 1216-1228.
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Thanks to our collaborators Profs. S. Hotchandani (Univ. Of Tros Riveres, Canada) Prof. K. George Thomas (RRL, India) and Prof. S. Fukuzumi (Osaka Univ., Japan) who have collaborated on the projects related to our solar energy conversion research . We also acknowledge thr continued research funding by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences
Robel, I.; Subramanian, V.; Kuno, M.; Kamat, P.V., Quantum Dot Solar Cells. Harvesting Light Energy with CdSe Nanocrystals Molecularly Linked to Mesoscopic TiO2 Films. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006. 128, 2385-2393.
Hasobe, T.; Fukuzumi, S.; Kamat, P.V., Stacked-Cup Carbon Nanotubes for Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells. Angew. Chem. (Int. Ed.), 2006. 45, 755-759. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.200502815 NDRL 4623 Hasobe, T.; Hattori, S.; Kamat, P.V.; Fukuzumi, S., Supramolecular nanostructured assemblies of different types of porphyrins with fullerenes using TiO2 nanoparticles for light energy conversion. Tetrahedron, 2006. 62, 1937-1946. http://dx.doi.org.lib/10.1016/j.tet.2005.05.113 NDRL 4606
Robel, I., Bunker, B. and Kamat, P. V., SWCNT-CdS nanocomposite as light harvesting assembly. Photoinduced charge transfer interactions. Adv. Mater., 2005, 17, 2458-2463. (doi:10.1002/adma.200500418) NDRL 4583
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Reactive Reports: Fullerenes
Subramanian, V.; Kuno, M.; Kamat, P.V., Quantum Dot Solar Cells.
Harvesting Light Energy with CdSe Nanocrystals Molecularly Linked to
Mesoscopic TiO2 Films. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006.
Materials Today December 2004 Research News-Nanotoday Supplement New Light on CNT's -Energy Generation