WASHINGTON: Researchers from Rice University have demonstrated an efficient new way to capture the energy from sunlight and convert it into clean, renewable energy by splitting water molecules.
The technology relies on a configuration of light-activated gold nanoparticles that harvest sunlight and transfer solar energy to highly excited electrons, which scientists sometimes refer to as “hot electrons”.
“Hot electrons have the potential to drive very useful chemical reactions but they decay very rapidly and people have struggled to harness their energy,” said lead researcher Isabell Thomann, assistant professor at Rice University.
For example, most of the energy losses in today’s best photovoltaic solar panels are the result of hot electrons that cool within a few trillionths of a second and release their energy as wasted heat.
Capturing these high-energy electrons before they cool could allow solar-energy providers to significantly increase their solar-to-electric power-conversion efficiencies and meet the goal of reducing the cost of solar electricity.
In the light-activated nanoparticles, light is captured and converted into plasmons, waves of electrons that flow like a fluid across the metal surface of the nanoparticles.
